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A  POPULAR 


History  of  France 


FROM  THE  EARLIEST  TIMES. 


BY 


FRANCOIS   PIERRE   GUILLAUME   GUIZOT. 

4     ' 


A  POPULAK 


HISTOEY  OF  FKANCE, 


FROM  THE  EARLIEST  TIMES, 


BY 


M.  GUIZOT, 


AUTHOR  OF   "THE  HISTORY   OF    CIVILIZATION    IN  EUROPE, 
ETC.,  ETC. 


WITH  300  ILLUSTRATIONS  BY  A.  DE  NEUVILLE. 


TRANSLATED  BY 

ROBERT  BLACK,  M.  A., 

TRANSLATOR  OF  "LEOPOLD  I.,  KING  OF  THE  BELGIANS,"  ETC.,  ETC. 


VOLUME  II. 


BOSTON: 

DANA  ESTES  and  CHARLES  E.   LAURIAT, 

143  Washington  Street. 


<-f££74 


ELECTROTYPED 

Al  THE  BOSTON  STEREOTYPE  FOUNDRY, 

No.  19   SPRING   LANE. 


Printed  by  Welch,  Bigelow,  and  Company, 
University  Press,  Cambridge. 


.\ 


■ 


J}C 


■ 


LIST  OF  STEEL  ENGRAVINGS. 

VOLUME    II. 


PAGE 

Bridge  of  Toulouse Frontispiece. 

Preaching  the  Second  Crusade 13 

St.  Louis  administering  Justice 46 

St.  Louis  mediating  between  Henry  III.  and  his 

Barons 136 

The  Sicilian  Vespers       156 

The  Town  and  Fortress  of  Lille 164 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 

VOLUME    II. 


CHAPTER  PAGE 

XVII.     The  Crusades,  their  Decline  and  End.      .  9 

XVIII.     The  Kingship  in  France 65 

XIX.     The  Communes  and  the  Third  Estate.      .  205 
XX.     The  Hundred  Years'  War.    Philip  VI.  and 

John  II 249 

XXI.    The  States-General  op   the  Fourteenth 

Century.   . 328 

XXII.     The  Hundred  Years'  War.    Charles  V.    .  358 


LIST  OF  WOOD-CUT  ILLUSTRATIONS, 

VOLUME    II. 


PAGE 

Richard's  Farewell  to  the  Holy  Land 10 

Defeat  of  the  Turks 16 

The  Christians  of  the  Holy  City  defiling  before  Saladin.    .  28 

Richard  Coeur  de  Lion  having  the  Saracens  beheaded.   .     .  37 

Sire  de  Joinville 55 

The  Death  of  St.  Louis 64 

Thomas  de  Marie  made  Prisoner 69 

Louis  the  Fat  on  an  Expedition 69 

The  Battle  of  Bouvines 81 

Death  of  De  Montfort 104 

De  la  Marche's  parting  Insult 126 

"  It  is  rather  hard  Bread." 146 

The  Battle  of  Courtrai. 167 

Colonna  striking  the  Pope 185 

The  Hanging  of  Marigny 200 

The  Peasants   resolved   to   Live  according  to  their  own 

Inclinations  and  their  own  Laws 209 

Insurrection  in  favor  of  the  Commune  at  Cambrai.   .     .     .  214 

Burghers  of  Laon 220 

View  of  the  Town  of  Laon 223 

7 


8  LIST   OF   WOOD-CUT  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

Bishop  Gaudri  dragged  from  the  Cask 224 

The  Cathedral  of  Laon 233 

Homage  of  Edward  III.  to  Philip  VI 250 

Van  Artevelde  at  his  Door .  264 

"  See  !  See  !  "  she  cried 283 

Statue  of  James  Van  Artevelde 296 

Queen  Philippa  at  the  Feet  of  the  King 314 

John  II.,  called  the  Good 318 

"  Father,  ware  right !  Father,  ware  left !  " 326 

King  John  taken  Prisoner 326 

Arrest  of  the  Dauphin's  Councillors 334 

Charles  the  Bad,  King  of  Navarre 335 

The  Louvre  in  the  Fourteenth  Century 336 

Stephen  Marcel 342 

The  Murder  of  the  Marshals 345 

"  In  his  Hands  the  Keys  of  the  Gates." 354 

Charles  V 371 

Big  Ferre* 376 

Bertrand  du  Guesclin 388 

Putting  the  Keys  on  Du  Guesclin's  Bier 407 


A  POPULAR 

HISTORY    OF   FRANCE 

FROM  THE  EARLIEST  TIMES. 


CHAPTER   XVII. 

THE    CRUSADES,   THEIR   DECLINE    AND   END. 

IN  the  month  of  August,  1099,  the  Crusade*  to  judge  by- 
appearances,  had  attained  its  object.  Jerusalem  was  in 
the  hands  of  the  Christians,  and  they  had  set  up  in  it  a  king, 
the  most  pious  and  most  disinterested  of  the  crusaders.  Close 
to  this  ancient  kingdom  were  growing  up  likewise,  in  the  two 
chief  cities  of  Syria  and  Mesopotamia,  Antioch  and  Edessa, 
two  Christian  principalities,  in  the  possession  of  two  crusader- 
chiefs,  Bohemond  and  Baldwin.  A  third  Christian  principality 
was  on  the  point  of  getting  founded  at  the  foot  of  Libanus,  at 
Tripolis,  for  the  advantrge  of  another  crusader,  Bertrand,  eldest 
son  of  Count  Raymond  of  Toulouse.  The  conquest  of  Syria 
and  Palestine  seemed  accomplished,  in  the  name  of  the  faith,, 
and  by  the  armies  of  Christian  Europe ;  and  the  conquerors 
calculated  so  surely  upon  their  fixture  that,  during  his  reign,, 
short  as  it  was  (for  he  was  elected  king  July  23,  1099r 
and  died  July  18,  1100,  aged  only  forty  years),  Godfrey  de 
Bouillon  caused  to  be  drawn  up  and  published,  under  the  title 
of  Assizes  of  Jerusalem,  a  code  of  laws,  which  transferred  to 
Asia  the  customs  and  traditions  of  the  feudal  system,  just  as 
vol.  ii.  2  9 


10  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.     [Chap.  XVII. 

they  existed  in  France  at  the  moment  of  his  departure  for  the 
Holy  Land. 

Forty-six  years  afterwards,  in  1145,  the  Mussulmans,  under 
the  leadership  of  Zanghi,  sultan  of  Aleppo  and  of  Mossoul,  had 
retaken  Edessa.  Forty-two  years  after  that,  in  1187,  Saladin 
(Salah-el-Eddyn),  sultan  of  Egypt  and  of  Syria,  had  put  an  end 
to  the  Christian  kingdom  of  Jerusalem  ;  and  only  seven  years 
later,  in  1194,  Richard  Coeur  de  Lion,  king  of  England,  after  the 
most  heroic  exploits  in  Palestine,  on  arriving  in  sight  of  Jeru- 
salem, retreated  in  despair,  covering  his  eyes  with  his  shield, 
and'saying  that  he  was  not  worthy  to  look  upon  the  city  which 
he  WTas  not  in  a  condition  to  conquer.  When  he  re-embarked 
at  St.  Jean  d'Acre,  casting  a  last  glance  and  stretching  out  his 
arms  towards  the  coast,  he  cried,  "  Most  Holy  Land,  I  commend 
thee  to  the  care  of  the  Almighty ;  and  may  He  grant  me  long 
life  enough  to  return  hither  and  deliver  thee  from  the  yoke  of 
the  infidels  ! "  A  century  had  not  yet  rolled  by  since  the 
triumph  of  the  first  crusaders,  and  the  dominion  they  had 
acquired  by  conquest  in  the  Holy  Land  had  become,  even  in 
the  eyes  of  their  most  valiant  and  most  powerful  successors, 
an  impossibility. 

Nevertheless,  repeated  efforts  and  glory,  and  even  victories, 
were  not  then,  and  were  not  to  be  still  later,  unknown  amongst 
the  Christians  in  their  struggle  against  the  Mussulmans  for  the 
possession  of  the  Holy  Land.  In  the  space  of  a  hundred  and 
seventy-one  years  from  the  coronation  of  Godfrey  de  Bouillon 
as  king  of  Jerusalem,  in  1099,  to  the  death  of  St.  Louis,  wear- 
ing the  cross  before  Tunis,  in  1270,  seven  grand  crusades  were 
undertaken  with  the  same  design  by  the  greatest  sovereigns 
of  Christian  Europe ;  the  Kings  of  France  and  England,  the 
Emperors  of  Germany,  the  King  of  Denmark,  and  princes 
of  Italy  successively  engaged  therein.  And  they  all  failed. 
It  were  neither  right  nor  desirable  to  make  long  pause  over  the 
recital  of  their  attempts  and  their  reverses,  for  it  is  the  history 
of  France,  and  not  a  general  history  of  the  crusades,  which  is 


Chap.  XVII.]     DECLINE  AND  END  OF  THE  CRUSADES.       11 

here  related ;  but  it  was  in  France,  by  the  French  people,  and 
under  French  chiefs,  that  the  crusades  were  begun  ;  and  it  was 
with  St.  Louis,  dying  before  Tunis  beneath  the  banner  of  the 
cross,  that  they  came  to  an  end.  They  received  in  the  history 
of  Europe  the  glorious  name  of  Qesta  Dei  per  Francos  (Grod"s 
works  by  French  hands)  ;  and  they  have  a  right  to  keep,  in  the 
history  of  France,  the  place  they  really  occupied. 

During  a  reign  of  twenty-nine  years,  Louis  VI.,  called  the 
Fat,  son  of  Philip  L,  did  not  trouble  himself  about  the  East 
or  the  crusades,  at  that  time  in  all  their  fame  and  renown. 
Being  rather  a  man  of  sense  than  an  enthusiast  in  the  cause 
either  of  piety  or  glory,  he  gave  all  his  attention  to  the  estab- 
lishment of  some  order,  justice,  and  royal  authority  in  his  as 
yet  far  from  extensive  kingdom.  A  tragic  incident,  however, 
gave  the  crusade  chief  place  in  the  thoughts  and  life  of  his  son, 
Louis  VII.,  called  the  Young,  who  succeeded  him  in  1137.  He 
got  himself  rashly  embroiled,  in  1142,  in  a  quarrel  with  Pope 
Innocent  II.,  on  the  subject  of  the  election  of  the  Archbishop 
of  Bourges.  The  pope  and  the  king  had  each  a  different  can- 
didate for  the  see.  "  The  king  is  a  child,"  said  the  pope  ;  "  he 
must  get  schooling,  and  be  kept  from  learning  bad  habits." 
u  Never,  so  long  as  I  live,"  said  the  king,  "  shall  Peter  de  la 
Chatre  (the  pope's  candidate)  enter  the  city  of  Bourges." 
The  chapter  of  Bourges,  thinking  as  the  pope  thought,  elected 
Peter  de  la  Chatre  ;  and  Theobald  II.,  Count  of  Champagne, 
took  sides  for  the  archbishop  elect.  "  Mind  your  own  business," 
said  the  king  to  him  ;  "  your  dominions  are  large  enough  to 
occupy  you ;  and  leave  me  to  govern  my  own  as  I  have  a  mind." 
Theobald  persisted  in  backing  the  elect  of  pope  and  chapter. 
The  pope  excommunicated  the  king.  The  king  declared  war 
against  the  Count  of  Champagne ;  and  went  and  besieged 
Vitry.  Nearly  all  the  town  was  built  of  wood,  and  the  be- 
siegers set  fire  to  it.  The  besieged  fled  for  refuge  to  a  church, 
in  which  they  were  invested  ;  and  the  fire  reached  the  church, 
which  was  entirely  consumed,  together  with  the  thirteen  hundred 


12  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF  FRANCE.     [Chap.  XVII. 

inhabitants,  men,  women,  and  children,  who  had  retreated 
thither.  This  disaster  made  a  great  stir.  St.  Bernard,  Abbot 
of  Clairvaux  and  the  leading  ecclesiastical  authority  of  the 
ao-e,  took  the  part  of  Count  Theobald.  King  Louis  felt  a  lively 
sorrow,  and  sincere  repentance.  Soon  afterwards  it  became 
known  in  the  West  that  the  affairs  of  the  Christians  were 
going  ill  in  the  East ;  that  the  town  of  Eclessa  had  been  re- 
taken by  the  Turks,  and  all  its  inhabitants  massacred.  The 
kingdom  of  Jerusalem,  too,  was  in  danger.  Great  was  the 
emotion  in  Europe  ;  and  the  cry  of  the  crusade  was  heard 
once  more.  Louis  the  Young,  to  appease  his  troubled  con- 
science, and  to  get  reconciled  with  the  pope,  to  say  nothing 
of  sympathy  for  the  national  movement,  assembled  the  grandees, 
laic  and  ecclesiastical,  of  the  kingdom,  to  deliberate  upon  the 
matter. 

Deliberation  was  more  prolonged,  more  frequently  repeated, 
aud  more  indecisive  than  it  had  been  at  the  time  of  the  first 
crusade.  Three  grand  assemblies  met,  the  first  in  1145,  at 
Bourges ;  the  second  in  1146,  at  Vezelai,  in  Nivernais  ;  and 
the  third  in  1147,  at  Etampes ;  all  three  being  called  to  in- 
vestigate the  expediency  of  a  new  crusade,  and  of  the  king's 
participation  in  the  enterprise.  Not  only  was  the  question 
seriously  discussed,  but  extremely  diverse  opinions  were  ex- 
pressed, both  amongst  the  rank  and  file  of  these  assemblies, 
and  amongst  their  most  illustrious  members.  There  were  two 
men  whose  talents  and  fame  made  them  conspicuous  above 
all ;  Suger,  Abbot  of  St.  Denis,  the  intimate  and  able  adviser 
of  the  wise  king,  Louis  the  Fat,  and  St.  Bernard,  Abbot  of 
Clairvaux,  the  most  eloquent,  most  influential,  and  most  piously 
disinterested  amongst  the  Christians  of  his  age.  Though  both 
were  ecclesiastics,  these  two  great  men  were,  touching  the 
second  crusade,  of  opposite  opinions.  "Let  none  suppose," 
says  Suger's  biographer  and  confidant,  William,  monk  of  St. 
Denis,  "  that  it  was  at  his  instance  or  by  his  counsel  that  the 
king  undertook  the  voyage  to  the  Holy  Land.     Although  the 


Colin   sculpsi 


Chap.  XVII.]     DECLINE  AND  END  OF  THE  CRUSADES.       13 

success  of  it  was  other  than  had  been  expected,  this  prince 
was  influenced  only  by  pious  wishes  and  zeal  for  the  service 
of  God.  As  for  Suger,  ever  far-seeing  and  only  too  well  able 
to  read  the  future,  not  only  did  he  not  suggest  to  the  monarch 
any  such  design,  but  he  disapproved  of  it  so  soon  as  it  was 
mentioned  to  him.  The  truth  of  it  is,  that,  after  having  vainly 
striven  to  nip  it  in  the  bud,  and  being  unable  to  put  a  check 
upon  the  king's  zeal,  he  thought  it  wise,  either  for  fear  of 
wounding  the  king's  piety,  or  of  uselessly  incurring  the  wrath 
of  the  partisans  of  the  enterprise,  to  yield  to  the  times."  As 
for  St.  Bernard,  at  the  first  of  the  three  assemblies,  viz.,  at 
Bourges,  whether  it  were  that  his  mind  was  not  yet  made  up 
or  that  he  desired  to  cover  himself  with  greater  glory,  he 
advised  the  king  to  undertake  nothing  without  having  pre- 
viously consulted  the  Holy  See ;  but  when  Pope  Eugenius 
III.,  so  far  from  hesitating,  had  warmly  solicited  the  aid  of 
the  Christians  against  the  infidels,  St.  Bernard,  at  the  second 
assembly,  viz.,  at  Vezelai,  gave  free  vent  to  his  feelings  and  his 
eloquence.  After  having  read  the  pope's  letters,  "If  ye  were 
told,"  said  he,  "  that  an  enemy  had  attacked  your  castles,  your 
cities,  and  your  lands,  had  ravished  your  wives  and  your  daugh- 
ters, and  had  profaned  your  temples,  which  of  you  would  not 
fly  to  arms?  Well,  all  those  evils,  and  evils  still  greater,  have 
come  upon  your  brethren,  upon  the  family  of  Christ,  which 
is  your  own.  Why  tarry  ye,  then,  to  repair  so  many  wrongs, 
to  avenge  so  many  insults  ?  Christian  warriors,  He  who  gave 
His  life  for  you  to-day  demandeth  yours ;  illustrious  knights, 
noble  defenders  of  the  cross,  call  to  mind  the  example  of  your 
fathers,  who  conquered  Jerusalem,  and  whose  names  are  written 
in  heaven  !  The  living  God  hath  charged  me  to  tell  unto  you 
that  He  will  punish  those  who  shall  not  have  defended  Him 
against  His  enemies.  Fly  to  arms,  and  let  Christendom  re-echo 
with  the  words  of  the  prophet,  « Woe  to  him  who  dyeth  not 
his  sword  with  blood ! '  "  At  this  fervent  address  the  assembly 
rang  with  the  shout  of  the  first  crusade,  God  willeth  it !  God 


14  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.      [Chap.  XVII. 

willeih  it!  The  king,  kneeling  before  St.  Bernard,  received 
from  his  hands  the  cross;  the  queen,  Eleanor  of  Aquitaine, 
assumed  it,  like  her  husband ;  nearly  all  the  barons  present  fol- 
lowed their  example;  St.  Bernard  tore  up  his  garments  into 
crosses  for  distribution,  and,  on  leaving  the  assembly,  he  scoured 
the  country  places,  everywhere  preaching  and  persuading  the 
people.  "  The  villages  and  castles  are  deserted/'  he  wrote  to 
the  pope ;  "  there  is  none  to  be  seen  save  widows  and  orphans 
whose  husbands  and  fathers  are  alive."  Nor  did  he  confine 
himself  to  France ;  he  crossed  into  Germany,  and  preached  the 
crusade  all  along  the  Rhine.  The  emperor,  Conrad  III.,  showed 
great  hesitation ;  the  empire  was  sorely  troubled,  he  said,  and 
had  need  of  its  head.  "  Be  of  good  cheer,"  replied  St.  Ber- 
nard :  "  so  long  as  you  defend  His  heritage,  God  himself  will 
take  the  burden  of  defending  yours."  One  day,  in  December, 
1146,  he  was  celebrating  mass  at  Spire,  in  presence  of  the  em- 
peror and  a  great  number  of  German  princes.  Suddenly  he 
passed  from  the  regular  service  to  the  subject  of  the  crusade, 
and  transported  his  audience  to  the  last  judgment,  in  the  pres- 
ence of  all  the  nations  of  the  earth  summoned  together,  and 
Jesus  Christ  bearing  his  cross,  and  reproaching  the  emperor  with 
ingratitude.  Conrad  was  deeply  moved,  and  interrupted  the 
preacher  by  crying  out,  "  I  know  what  I  owe  to  Jesus  Christ : 
and  I  swear  to  go  whither  it  pleaseth  Him  to  call  me."  The 
attraction  became  general ;  and  Germany,  like  France,  took  up 
the  cross. 

St.  Bernard  returned  to  France.  The  ardor  there  had  cooled 
a  little  during  his  absence ;  the  results  of  his  trip  in  Germany 
were  being  waited  for ;  and  it  was  known  that,  on  being  eagerly 
pressed  to  put  himself  at  the  head  of  the  crusaders,  and  take  the 
command  of  the  whole  expedition,  he  had  formally  refused. 
His  enthusiasm  and  his  devotion,  sincere  and  deep  as  they  were, 
did  not,  in  his  case,  extinguish  common  sense ;  and  he  had  not 
forgotten  the  melancholy  experiences  of  Peter  the  Hermit.  In 
support  of  his  refusal  he  claimed  the  intervention  of  Pope  Eu- 


> 


Chap.  XVII.]     DECLINE   AND    END    OF   THE   CRUSADES.    15 

genius  III.  "  Who  am  I,"  he  wrote  to  him,  "  that  I  should 
form  a  camp,  and  march  at  the  head  of  an  army  ?  What  can  be 
more  alien  to  my  calling,  even  if  I  lacked  not  the  strength  and 
the  ability  ?  I  need  not  tell  you  all  this,  for  you  know  it  per- 
fectly. I  conjure  you  by  the  charity  you  owe  me,  deliver  me 
not  over,  thus,  to  the  humors  of  men."  The  pope  came  to 
France  ;  and  the  third  grand  assembly  met  at  Etampes,  in  Feb- 
ruary, 1147.  The  presence  of  St.  Bernard  rekindled  zeal ;  but 
foresight  began  to  penetrate  men's  minds.  Instead  of  insisting 
upon  his  being  the  chief  of  the  crusade,  attention  was  given  to 
preparations  for  the  expedition;  the  points  were  indicated  at 
which  the  crusaders  should  form  a  junction,  and  the  directions 
in  which  they  would  have  to  move ;  and  inquiry  was  made  as  to 
what  measures  should  be  taken,  and  what  persons  should  be 
selected  for  the  government  of  France  during  the  king's  absence. 
"Sir,"  said  St.  Bernard,  after  having  come  to  an  understanding 
upon  the  subject  with  the  principal  members  of  the  assembly, 
at  the  same  time  pointing  to  Suger  and  the  Count  de  Nevers, 
"  here  be  two  swords,  and  it  sufficeth."  The  Count  de  Nevers 
peremptorily  refused  the  honor  done  him ;  he  was  resolved,  he 
said,  to  enter  the  order  of  St.  Bruno,  as  indeed  he  did.  Suger 
also  refused  at  first,  "  considering  the  dignity  offered  him  a  bur- 
den, rather  than  an  honor."  Wise  and  clear-sighted  by  nature, 
he  had  learned  in  the  reign  of  Louis  the  Fat,  to  know  the  re- 
quirements and  the  difficulties  of  government.  "  He  consented 
to  accept,"  says  his  biographer,  "  only  when  he  was  at  last 
forced  to  it  by  Pope  Eugenius,  who  was  present  at  the  king's 
departure,  and  whom  it  was  neither  permissible  nor  possible  for 
him  to  resist."  It  was  agreed  that  the  French  crusaders  should 
form  a  junction  at  Metz,  under  the  command  of  King  Louis,  and 
the  Germans  at  Ratisbonne,  under  that  of  the  Emperor  Conrad, 
and  that  the  two  armies  should  successively  repair  by  land  to 
Constantinople,  whence  they  would  cross  into  Asia. 

Having  each  a  strength,  it  is  said,  of  one  hundred  thousand 
men,  they  marched  by  Germany  and  the  Lower  Danube,  at  an 


16  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.     [Chap.  XVII. 

interval  of  two  months  between  them,  without  committing  irreg- 
ularities and  without  meeting  obstacles  so  serious  as  those  of  the 
first  crusade,  but  still  much  incommoded,  and  subjected  to  great 
hardships  in  the  countries  they  traversed.  The  Emperor  Con- 
rad and  the  Germans  first,  and  then  King  Louis  and  the  French, 
arrived  at  Constantinople  in  the  course  of  the  summer  of  1147. 
Manuel  Comneniis,  grandson  of  Alexis  Comnenus,  was  reigning 
there;  and  he  behaved  towards  the  crusaders  with  the  same 
mixture  of  caresses  and  malevolence,  promises  and  perfidy,  as 
had  distinguished  his  grandfather.  "  There  is  no  ill  turn  he  did 
not  do  them,"  says  the  historian  Nicetas,  himself  a  Greek. 
Conrad  was  the  first  to  cross  into  Asia  Minor,  and,  whether  it 
were  unskilfulness  or  treason,  the  guides  with  whom  he  had 
been  supplied  by  Manuel  Comnenus  led  him  so  badly  that,  on 
the  28th  of  October,  1147,  he  was  surprised  and  shockingly 
beaten  by  the  Turks  near  Iconium.  An  utter  distrust  of  Greeks 
grew  up  amongst  the  French,  who  had  not  yet  left  Constantino- 
ple ;  and  some  of  their  chiefs,  and  even  one  of  their  prelates, 
the  Bishop  of  Langres,  proposed  to  make,  without  further  delay, 
an  end  of  it  with  this  emperor  and  empire,  so  treacherously 
hostile,  and  to  take  Constantinople  in  order  to  march  more 
securely  upon  Jerusalem.  But  King  Louis  and  the  majority  of 
his  knights  turned  a  deaf  ear  :  "  We  be  come  forth,"  said  they, 
41  to  expiate  our  own  sins,  not  to  punish  the  crimes  of  the 
Greeks  ;  when  we  took  up  the  cross,  God  did  not  put  into  our 
hands  the  sword  of  His  justice ;  "  and  they,  in  their  turn, 
crossed  over  into  Asia  Minor.  There  they  found  the  Germans 
beaten  and  dispersed,  and  Conrad  himself  wounded  and  so  dis- 
couraged that,  instead  of  pursuing  his  way  by  land  with  the 
French,  he  returned  to  Constantinople  to  go  thence  by  sea  to 
Palestine.  Louis  and  his  army  continued  their  march  across 
Asia  Minor,  and  gained  in  Phrygia,  at  the  passage  of  the  river 
Meander,  so  brilliant  a  victory  over  the  Turks  that,  "  if  such 
men,"  says  the  historian  Nicetas,  "  abstained  from  taking  Con- 
stantinople, one  cannot  but  admire  their  moderation  and  forbear- 


RICHARD'S   FAREWELL  TO   THE   HOLY  LAND. —Page  10. 


Chap.  XVII.]    DECLINE  AND   END   OF  THE  CRUSADES.     17 

ance."  But  the  success  was  short,  and,  ere  long,  dearly  paid 
for.  On  entering  Pisidia,  the  French  army  split  up  into  two, 
and  afterwards  into  several  divisions,  which  scattered  and  lost 
themselves  in  the  denies  of  the  mountains.  The  Turks  waited 
for  them,  and  attacked  them  at  the  mouths  and  from  the  tops  of 
the  passes ;  before  long  there  was  nothing  but  disorder  and  car- 
nage ;  the  little  band  which  surrounded  the  king  was  cut  to 
pieces  at  his  side  ;  and  Louis  himself,  with  his  back  against  a 
rock,  defended  himself,  alone,  for  some  minutes,  against  several 
Turks,  till  they,  not  knowing  who  he  was,  drew  off,  whereupon 
he,  suddenly  throwing  himself  upon  a  stray  horse,  rejoined  his 
advanced  guard,  who  believed  him  dead.  The  army  continued 
their  march  pell-mell,  king,  barons,  knights,  soldiers,  and  pil- 
grims, uncertain  day  by  day  what  would  become  of  them  on  the 
morrow.  The  Turks  harassed  them  afield ;  the  towns  in  which 
there  were  Greek  governors  residing  refused  to  receive  them ; 
provisions  fell  short ;  arms  and  baggage  were  abandoned  on  the 
road.  On  arriving  in  Pamphylia,  at  Satalia,  a  little  port  on  the 
Mediterranean,  the  impossibility  of  thus  proceeding  became  evi- 
dent ;  they  were  still,  by  land,  forty  days'  march  from  Antioch, 
whereas  it  required  but  three  to  get  there  by  sea.  The  governor 
of  Satalia  proposed  to  the  king  to  embark  the  crusaders ;  but, 
when  the  vessels  arrived,  they  were  quite  inadequate  for  such 
an  operation ;  hardly  could  the  king,  the  barons,  and  the  knights 
find  room  in  them ;  and  it  would  be  necessary  to  abandon  and 
expose  to  the  perils  of  the  land-march  the  majority  of  the  in- 
fantry and  all  the  mere  pilgrims  who  had  followed  the  army. 
Louis,  disconsolate,  fluctuated  between  the  most  diverse  resolu- 
tions, at  one  time  demanding  to  have  everybody  embarked  at 
any  risk,  at  another  determining  to  march  by  land  himself  with 
all  who  could  not  be  embarked ;  distributing  whatever  money 
and  provisions  he  had  left,  being  as  generous  and  sympathetic  as 
he  was  improvident  and  incapable,  and  "  never  letting  a  day 
pass,"  says  Odo  of  Deuil,  who  accompanied  him,  "  without  hear- 
ing mass  and  crying  unto  the  God  of  the  Christians."     At  last 

VOL.  II.  3 


18  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF  FRANCE.     [Chap.  XVII. 

he  embarked  with  his  queen,  Eleanor,  and  his  principal  knights; 
and  towards  the  end  of  March,  1148,  he  arrived  at  Antioch, 
having  lost  more  than  three  quarters  of  his  army. 

Scarcely  had  he  taken  a  few  days'  rest  when  messengers 
came  to  him  on  behalf  of  Baldwin  III.,  king  of  Jerusalem,  beg- 
ging him  to  repair  without  delay  to  the  Holy  City.  Louis  was 
as  eager  to  go  thither  as  the  king  and  people  of  Jerusalem  were 
to  see  him  there ;  but  his  speedy  departure  encountered  unfore- 
seen hinderances.  Raymond,  of  Poitiers,  at  that  time  Prince  of 
Antioch  by  his  marriage  with  Constance,  granddaughter  of  the 
great  Bohemond  of  the  first  crusade,  was  uncle  to  the  Queen  of 
France,  Eleanor  of  Aquitaine.  "  He  was,"  says  William  of 
Tyre,  "a  lord  of  noble  descent,  of  tall  and  elegant  figure,  the 
handsomest  of  the  princes  of  the  earth,  a  man  of  charming  affa- 
bility and  conversation,  open-handed  and  magnificent  beyond 
measure,"  and,  moreover,  ambitious  and  eager  to  extend  his 
small  dominion.  He  had  at  heart,  beyond  everything,  the  con- 
quest of  Aleppo  and  Csesarea.  In  this  design  the  King  of 
France  and  the  crusaders  who  were  still  about  him  might  be  of 
real  service ;  and  he  attempted  to  win  them  over.  Louis  an- 
swered that  he  would  engage  in  no  enterprise  until  he  had  vis- 
ited the  holy  places.  Raymond  was  impetuous,  irritable,  and  as 
unreasonable  in  his  desires  as  unfortunate  in  his  undertakings. 
He  had  quickly  acquired  great  influence  over  his  niece,  Queen 
Eleanor,  and  he  had  no  difficulty  in  winning  her  over  to  his 
plans.  "  She,"  says  William  of  Tyre,  "  was  a  very  inconsiderate 
woman,  caring  little  for  royal  dignity  or  conjugal  fidelity ;  she 
took  great  pleasure  in  the  court  of  Antioch,  where  she  also  con- 
ferred much  pleasure,  even  upon  Mussulmans,  whom,  as  some 
chronicles  say,  she  did  not  repulse ;  and,  when  the  king,  her 
husband,  spoke  to  her  of  approaching  departure,  she  emphat- 
ically refused,  and,  to  justify  her  opposition,  she  declared  that 
they  could  no  longer  live  together,  as  there  was,  she  asserted,  a 
prohibited  degree  of  consanguinity  between  them."  Louis, 
"  who  loved  her  with  an  almost  excessive  love,"  says  William 


Chap.  XVII.]     DECLINE  AND   END   OF  THE   CRUSADES.     19 

of  Nangis,  was  at  the  same  time  angered  and  grieved.  He  was 
austere  in  morals,  easily  jealous,  and  religiously  scrupulous,  and 
for  a  moment  he  was  on  the  point  of  separating  from  his  wife  ; 
but  the  counsels  of  his  chief  barons  dissuaded  him,  and,  there- 
upon, taking  a  sudden  resolution,  he  set  out  from  Antioch 
secretly,  by  night,  carrying  off  the  queen  almost  by  force. 
"  They  both  hid  their  wrath  as  much  as  possible,"  says  the 
chronicler;  "but  at  heart  they  had  ever  this  outrage."  We 
shall  see,  before  long,  what  were  the  consequences.  No  history 
can  offer  so  striking  an  example  of  the  importance  of  well- 
assorted  unions  amongst  the  highest  as  well  as  the  lowest,  and 
of  the  prolonged  woes  which  may  be  brought  upon  a  nation  by 
the  domestic  evils  of  royalty. 

On  approaching  Jerusalem,  in  the  month  of  April,  1148, 
Louis  VII.  saw  coming  to  meet  him  King  Baldwin  III.,  and  the 
patriarch  and  the  people,  singing,  "  Blessed  be  he  that  cometh 
in  the  name  of  the  Lord  !  "  So  soon  as  he  had  entered  the  city, 
his  pious  wishes  were  fulfilled  by  his  being  taken  to  pay  a  sol- 
emn visit  to  all  the  holy  places.  At  the  same  time  arrived  from 
Constantinople  the  Emperor  Conrad,  almost  alone  and  in  the 
guise  of  a  simple  pilgrim.  All  the  remnant  of  the  crusaders, 
French  and  German,  hurried  to  join  them.  Impatient  to  exhibit 
their  power  on  the  theatre  of  their  creed,  and  to  render  to  the 
kingdom  of  Jerusalem  some  striking  service,  the  two  Western 
sovereigns,  and  Baldwin,  and  their  principal  barons  assembled  at 
Ptolemais  (St.  Jean  d'Acre)  to  determine  the  direction  to  be 
taken  by  their  enterprise.  They  decided  upon  the  siege  of  Da- 
mascus, the  most  important  and  the  nearest  of  the  Mussulman 
princedoms  in  Syria,  and  in  the  early  part  of  June  they  moved 
thither  with  forces  incomplete  and  ill  united.  Neither  the 
Prince  of  Antioch  nor  the  Counts  of  Edessa  and  Tripolis  had 
been  summoned  to  St.  Jean  d'Acre  ;  and  Queen  Eleanor  had 
not  appeared.  At  the  first  attack,  the  ardor  of  the  assailants 
and  the  brilliant  personal  prowess  of  their  chiefs,  of  the  Em- 
peror Conrad  amongst  others,  struck  surprise  and  consternation 


20  POPULAR  HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.     [Chap.  XVII. 

into  the  besieged,  who,  foreseeing  the  necessity  of  abandoning 
their  city,  laid  across  the  streets  beams,  chains,  and  heaps  of 
stones,  to  stop  the  progress  of  the  conquerors  and  give  them- 
selves time  for  flying,  with  their  families  and  their  wealth,  by 
the  northern  and  southern  gates.  But  personal  interest  and 
secret  negotiations  before  long  brought  into  the  Christian  camp 
weakness,  together  with  discord.  Many  of  the  barons  were 
already  disputing  amongst  themselves,  at  the  very  elbows  of  the 
sovereigns,  for  the  future  government  of  Damascus ;  others 
were  not  inaccessible  to  the  rich  offers  which  came  to  them  from 
the  city  ;  and  it  is  maintained  that  King  Baldwin  himself  suf- 
fered himself  to  be  bribed  by  a  sum  of  two  hundred  thousand 
pieces  of  gold  which  were  sent  to  him  by  Modjer-Eddyn,  Emir 
of  Damascus,  and  which  turned  out  to  be  only  pieces  of  copper, 
covered  with  gold  leaf.  News  came  that  the  Emirs  of  Aleppo 
and  Mossoul  were  coming,  with  considerable  forces,  to  the  relief 
of  the  place.  Whatever  may  have  been  the  cause  of  retreat, 
the  crusader-sovereigns  decided  upon  it,  and,  raising  the  siege, 
returned  to  Jerusalem.  The  Emperor  Conrad,  in  indignation 
and  confusion,  set  out  precipitately  to  return  to  Germany. 
King  Louis  could  not  make  up  his  mind  thus  to  quit  the  Holy 
Land  in  disgrace,  and  without  doing  anything  for  its  deliver- 
ance. He  prolonged  his  stay  there  for  more  than  a  year  with- 
out anything  to  show  for  his  time  and  zeal.  His  barons  and  his 
knights  nearly  all  left  him,  and,  by  sea  or  land,  made  their  way 
back  to  France.  But  the  king  still  lingered.  "  I  am  under  a 
bond,"  he  wrote  to  Suger,  "not  to  leave  the  Holy  Land,  save 
with  glory,  and  after  doing  somewhat  for  the  cause  of  God  and 
the  kingdom  of  France."  At  last,  after  many  fruitless  en- 
treaties, Suger  wrote  to  him,  "  Dear  king  and  lord,  I  must  cause 
thee  to  hear  the  voice  of  thy  whole  kingdom.  Why  dost  thou 
fly  from  us?  After  having  toiled  so  hard  in  the  East,  after 
having  endured  so  many  almost  unendurable  evils,  by  what 
harshness  or  what  cruelty  comes  it  that,  now  when  the  barons 
and  grandees  of  the  kingdom  have  returned,  thou  persistest  in 


Chap.  XVIL]     DECLINE  AND   END    OF  THE   CRUSADES.     21 

abiding  with  the  barbarians  ?  The  disturbers  of  the  kingdom 
have  entered  into  it  again ;  and  thou,  who  shouldst  defend  it, 
remainest  in  exile  as  if  thou  wert  a  prisoner ;  thou  givest  over 
the  lamb  to  the  wolf,  thy  dominions  to  the  ravishers.  We  con- 
jure thy  majesty,  we  invoke  thy  piety,  we  adjure  thy  goodness, 
we  summon  thee  in  the  name  of  the  fealty  we  owe  thee ;  tarry 
not  at  all,  or  only  a  little  while,  beyond  Easter ;  else  thou  wilt 
appear,  in  the  eyes  of  God,  guilty  of  a  breach  of  that  oath 
which  thou  didst  take  at  the  same  time  as  the  crown."  At 
length  Louis  made  up  his  mind  and  embarked  at  St.  Jean  d' Acre 
at  the  commencement  of  July,  1149  ;  and  he  disembarked  in  the 
month  of  October  at  the  port  of  St.  Gilles,  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Rh6ne,  whence  he  wrote  to  Suger,  "  We  be  hastening  unto 
you  safe  and  sound,  and  we  command  you  not  to  defer  paying 
us  a  visit,  on  a  given  day  and  before  all  our  other  friends. 
Many  rumors  reach  us  touching  our  kingdom,  and  knowing 
nought  for  certain,  we  be  desirous  to  learn  from  you  how  we 
should  bear  ourselves  or  hold  our  peace,  in  every  case.  And 
let  none  but  yourself  know  what  I  say  to  you  at  this  present 
writing." 

This  preference  and  this  confidence  were  no  more  than  Louis 
VII.  owed  to  Suger.  The  Abbot  of  St.  Denis,  after  having 
opposed  the  crusade  with  a  freedom  of  spirit  and  a  far-sighted- 
ness unique,  perhaps,  in  his  times,  had,  during  the  king's  absence, 
borne  the  weight  of  government  with  a  political  tact,  a  firm- 
ness, and  a  disinterestedness  rare  in  any  times.  He  had  upheld 
the  authority  of  absent  royalty,  kept  down  the  pretensions  of 
vassals,  and  established  some  degree  of  order  wherever  his  influ- 
ence could  reach ;  he  had  provided  for  the  king's  expenses  in 
Palestine  by  good  administration  of  the  domains  and  revenues 
of  the  crown ;  and,  lastly,  he  had  acquired  such  renown  in 
Europe,  that  men  came  from  Italy  and  from  England  to  view 
the  salutary  effects  of  his  government,  and  that  the  name  of 
Solomon  of  his  age  was  conferred  upon  him  by  strangers  his 
contemporaries.     With  the  exception  of  great  sovereigns,  such 


22  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.     [Chap.  XVII. 

as  Charlemagne  or  William  the  Conqueror,  only  great  bishops 
or  learned  theologians,  and  that  by  their  influence  in  the  Church 
or  by  their  writings,  had  obtained  this  European  reputation ; 
from  the  ninth  to  the  twelfth  century,  Suger  was  the  first  man 
who  attained  to  it  by  the  sole  merit  of  his  political  conduct,  and 
who  offered  an  example  of  a  minister  justly  admired,  for  his 
ability  and  wisdom,  beyond  the  circle  in  which  he  lived.  When 
he  saw  that  the  king's  return  drew  near,  he  wrote  to  him,  say- 
ing, "  You  will,  I  think,  have  ground  to  be  satisfied  with  our 
conduct.  We  have  remitted  to  the  knights  of  the  Temple  the 
money  we  had  resolved  to  send  you.  We  have,  besides,  reim- 
bursed the  Count  of  Vermandois  the  three  thousand  livres  he 
had  lent  us  for  your  service.  Your  land  and  your  people  are  in 
the  enjoyment,  for  the  present,  of  a  happy  peace.  You  will 
find  your  houses  and  your  palaces  in  good  condition  through  the 
care  we  have  taken  to  have  them  repaired.  Behold  me  now  in 
the  decline  of  age  :  and  I  dare  to  say  that  the  occupations  in 
which  I  have  engaged  for  the  love  of  God  and  through  attach- 
ment to  your  person  have  added  many  to  my  years.  In  respect 
of  the  queen,  your  consort,  I  am  of  opinion  that  you  should 
conceal  the  displeasure  she  causes  you,  until,  restored  to  your 
dominions,  you  can  calmly  deliberate  upon  that  and  upon  other 
subjects.' ' 

On  once  more  entering  his  kingdom,  Louis,  who,  at  a  dis- 
tance, had  sometimes  lent  a  credulous  ear  to  the  complaints  of 
the  discontented  or  to  the  calumnies  of  Suger's  enemies,  did  him 
full  justice  and  was  the  first  to  give  him  the  name  of  Father  of 
the  country.  The  ill  success  of  the  crusade  and  the  remembrance 
of  all  that  France  had  risked  and  lost  for  nothing,  made  a  deep 
impression  upon  the  public  ;  and  they  honored  Suger  for  his  far- 
sightedness whilst  they  blamed  St.  Bernard  for  the  infatuation 
which  he  had  fostered  and  for  the  disasters  which  had  followed  it. 
St.  Bernard  accepted  their  reproaches  in  a  pious  spirit :  "  If," 
said  he,  "  there  must  be  murmuring  against  God  or  against  me, 
I  prefer  to  see  the  murmurs  of  men  falling  upon  me  rather  than 


Chap.  XVIL]     DECLINE   AND   END   OF   THE  CRUSADES.     23 

upon  the  Lord.  To  me  it  is  a  blessed  thing  that  God  should 
deign  to  use  me  as  a  buckler  to  shield  Himself.  I  shrink  not  from 
humiliation,  provided  that  His  glory  be  unassailed."  But  at  the 
same  time  St.  Bernard  himself  was  troubled,  and  he  permitted 
himself  to  give  expression  to  his  troubled  feelings  in  a  singularly 
free  and  bold  strain  of  piety.  "  We  be  fallen  upon  very  griev- 
ous times,"  he  wrote  to  Pope  Eugenius  III. ;  "  the  Lord,  pro- 
voked by  our  sins,  seemeth  in  some  sort  to  have  determined  to 
judge  the  world  before  the  time,  and  to  judge  it,  doubtless, 
according  to  His  equity,  but  not  remembering  His  mercy.  Do 
not  the  heathen  say,  '  Where  is  now  their  God  ?  '  And  who 
can  wonder  ?  The  children  of  the  Church,  those  who  be  called 
Christian,  lie  stretched  upon  the  desert,  smitten  with  the  sword 
or  dead  of  famine.  Did  we  undertake  the  work  rashly  ?  Did 
we  behave  ourselves  lightly  ?  How  patiently  God  heareth  the 
sacrilegious  voices  and  the  blasphemies  of  these  Egyptians! 
Assuredly  His  judgments  be  righteous  ;  who  doth  not  know  it  ? 
But  in  the  present  judgment  there  is  so  profound  a  depth,  that 
I  hesitate  not  to  call  him  blessed  whosoever  is  not  surprised  and 
offended  by  it." 

The  soul  of  man,  no  less  than  the  shifting  scene  of  the  world, 
is  often  a  great  subject  of  surprise.  King  Louis,  on  his  way 
back  to  France,  had  staid  some  days  at  Rome ;  and  there,  in  a 
conversation  with  the  pope,  he  had  almost  promised  him  a  new 
crusade  to  repair  the  disasters  of  that  from  which  he  had  found 
it  so  difficult  to  get  out.  Suger,  when  he  became  acquainted 
with  this  project,  opposed  it  as  he  had  opposed  the  former ;  but, 
at  the  same  time,  as  he,  in  common  with  all  his  age,  considered 
the  deliverance  of  the  Holy  Land  to  be  the  bounden  duty  of 
Christians,  he  conceived  the  idea  of  dedicating  the  large  fortune 
and  great  influence  he  had  acquired  to  the  cause  of  a  new 
crusade,  to  be  undertaken  by  himself  and  at  his  own  expense, 
without  compromising  either  king  or  state.  He  unfolded  his 
views  to  a  meeting  of  bishops  assembled  at  Chartres ;  and  he 
went  to  Tours,  and  paid  a  visit  to  the  tomb  of  St.  Martin  to 


24  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF    FRANCE.       [Chap.  XVII. 

implore  his  protection.  Already  more  than  ten  thousand  pil- 
grims were  in  arms  at  his  call,  and  already  he  had  himself 
chosen  a  warrior,  of  ability  and  renown,  to  command  them,  when 
he  fell  ill,  and  died  at  the  end  of  four  months,  in  1152,  aged 
seventy,  and  "  thanking  the  Almighty,"  says  his  biographer, 
"  for  having  taken  him  to  Him,  not  suddenly,  but  little  by  little, 
in  order  to  bring  him  step  by  step  to  the  rest  needful  for  the 
weary  man."  It  is  said  that,  in  his  last  days  and  when  St. 
Bernard  was  exhorting  him  not  to  think  any  more  save  only  of 
the  heavenly  Jerusalem,  Suger  still  expressed  to  him  his  regret 
at  dying  without  having  succored  the  city  which  was  so  dear  to 
them  both. 

Almost  at  the  very  moment  when  Suger  was  dying,  a  French 
council,  assembled  at  Beaugency,  was  annulling  on  the  ground 
of  prohibited  consanguinity,  and  with  the  tacit  consent  of  the 
two  persons  most  concerned,  the  marriage  of  Louis  VII.  and 
Eleanor  of  Aquitaine.  Some  months  afterwards,  at  Whitsun- 
tide in  the  same  year,  Henry  Plantagenet,  Duke  of  Normandy 
and  Count  of  Anjou,  espoused  Eleanor,  thus  adding  to  his 
already  great  possessions  Poitou  and  Aquitaine,  and  becoming, 
in  France,  a  vassal  more  powerful  than  the  king  his  suzerain. 
Twenty  months  later,  in  1154,  at  the  death  of  King  Stephen, 
Henry  Plantagenet  became  King  of  England ;  and  thus  there 
was  a  recurrence,  in  an  aggravated  form,  of  the  position  which 
had  been  filled  by  William  the  Conqueror,  and  which  was  the 
first  cause  of  rivalry  between  France  and  England  and  of  the 
consequent  struggles  of  considerably  more  than  a  century's 
duration. 

Little  more  than  a  year  after  Suger,  on  the  20th  of  April, 
1153,  St.  Bernard  died  also.  The  two  great  men,  of  whom  one 
had  excited  and  the  other  opposed  the  second  crusade,  disap- 
peared together  from  the  theatre  of  the  world.  The  crusade 
had  completely  failed.  After  a  lapse  of  scarce  forty  years,  a 
third  crusade  began.  When  a  great  idea  is  firmly  fixed  in  men's 
minds  with  the  twofold  sanction  of  duty  and  feeling,  many  gen- 


Chap.  XVIL]     DECLINE   AND    END    OF   THE  CRUSADES.     25 

erations  live  and  die  in  its  service  before  efforts  are  exhausted 
and  the  end  reached  or  abandoned. 

During  this  forty  years'  interval  between  the  end  of  the  sec- 
ond and  beginning  of  the  third  crusade,  the  relative  positions  of 
West  and  East,  Christian  Europe  and  Mussulman  Asia,  remained 
the  same  outwardly  and  according  to  the  general  aspect  of 
affairs ;  but  in  Syria  and  in  Palestine  there  was  a  continuance 
of  the  struggle  between  Christendom  and  Islamry,  with  various 
fortunes  on  either  side.  The  Christian  kingdom  of  Jerusalem 
still  stood  ;  and  after  Godfrey  de  Bouillon,  from  1100  to  1186, 
there  had  been  a  succession  of  eight  kings  ;  some  energetic  and 
bold,  aspiring  to  extend  their  young  dominion,  others  indolent 
and  weak  upon  a  tottering  throne.  The  rivalries  and  often  the 
defections  and  treasons  of  the  petty  Christian  princes  and  lords 
who  were  set  up  at  different  points  in  Palestine  and  Syria  endan- 
gered their  common  cause.  Fortunately  similar  rivalries,  dissen- 
sions, and  treasons  prevailed  amongst  the  Mussulman  emirs,  some 
of  them  Turks  and  others  Persians  or  Arabs,  and  at  one  time 
foes,  at  another  dependants,  of  the  Khalifs  of  Bagdad  or  of 
Egypt.  Anarchy  and  civil  war  harassed  both  races  and  both  re- 
ligions with  almost  equal  impartiality.  But,  beneath  this  surface 
of  simultaneous  agitation  and  monotony,  great  changes  were 
being  accomplished  or  preparing  for  accomplishment  in  the 
West.  The  principal  sovereigns  of  the  preceding  generation,. 
Louis  VII.,  King  of  France,  Conrad  III.,  Emperor  of  Germany, 
and  Henry  II.,  King  of  England,  were  dying ;  and  princes  more 
juvenile  and  more  enterprising,  or  simply  less  wearied  out, — 
Philip  Augustus,  Frederick  Barbarossa,  and  Richard  Coeur  de 
Lion,  —  were  taking  their  places.  In  the  East  the  theatre  of 
policy  and  events  was  being  enlarged ;  Egypt  was  becoming  the 
goal  of  ambition  with  the  chiefs,  Christian  or  Mussulman,  of  East- 
ern Asia  ;  and  Damietta,  the  key  of  Egypt,  was  the  object  of 
their  enterprises,  those  of  Amaury  I.,  the  boldest  of  the  kings 
of  Jerusalem,  as  well  as  those  of  the  Sultans  of  Damascus  and 
Aleppo.      Noureddin   and   Saladin  (Nour-Eddyn  and  Sala-Ed- 

vol.  ir.  4 


26  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.      [Chap.  XVII. 

dyn),  Turks  by  origin,  had  commenced  their  fortunes  in  Syria; 
hut  it  was  in  Egypt  that  they  culminated,  and,  when  Saladin 
became  the  most  illustrious  as  well  as  the  most  powerful  of 
Mussulman  sovereigns,  it  was  with  the  title  of  Sultan  of  Egypt 
and  of  Syria  that  he  took  his  place  in  history. 

In  the  course  of  the  year  1187,  Europe  suddenly  heard  tale 
upon  tale  about  the  repeated  disasters  of  the  Christians  in  Asia. 
On  the  1st  of  May,  the  two  religious  and  warlike  orders  which 
had  been  founded  in  the  East  for  the  defence  of  Christendom  — 
the  Hospitallers  of  St.  John  of  Jerusalem  and  the  Templars  — 
lost,  at  a  brush  in  Galilee,  five  hundred  of  their  bravest  knights. 
On  the  3d  and  4th  of  July,  near  Tiberias,  a  Christian  army  was 
surrounded  by  the  Saracens,  and  also,  ere  long,  by  the  fire 
which  Saladin  had  ordered  to  be  set  to  the  dry  grass  which 
covered  the  plain.  The  flames  made  their  way  and  spread 
beneath  the  feet  of  men  and  horses.  "There,"  say  the  Orien- 
tal chroniclers,  "  the  sons  of  Paradise  and  the  children  of  fire 
settled  their  terrible  quarrel.  Arrows  hurtled  in  the  air  like  a 
noisy  flight  of  sparrows,  and  the  blood  of  warriors  dripped  upon 
the  ground  like  rain-water.' '  "  I  saw,"  adds  one  of  them  who 
was  present  at  the  battle,  "  hill,  plain,  and  valley  covered  with 
their  dead  ;  I  saw  their  banners  stained  with  dust  and  blood  ;  I 
saw  their  heads  laid  low,  their  limbs  scattered,  their  carcasses 
piled  on  a  heap  like  stones."  Four  days  after  the  battle  of 
Tiberias,  on  the  8th  of  July,  1187,  Saladin  took  possession  of  St. 
Jean  d'Acre,  and,  on  the  4th  of  September  following,  of  As- 
calon.  Finalty,  on  the  18th  of  September,  he  laid  siege  to 
Jerusalem,  wherein  refuge  had  been  sought  by  a  multitude  of 
Christian  families  driven  from  their  homes  by  the  ravages  of  the 
infidels  throughout  Palestine ;  and  the  Holy  City  contained  at 
this  time,  it  is  said,  nearly  one  hundred  thousand  Christians. 
On  approaching  its  walls,  Saladin  sent  for  the  principal  inhabit- 
ants, and  said  to  them,  "  I  know  as  well  as  you  that  Jerusalem 
is  the  house  of  God  ;  and  I  will  not  have  it  assaulted  if  I  can 
get   it  by  peace   and  love.      I  will   give   you   thirty  thousand 


Chap.  XVII.]     DECLINE  AND  END  OF   THE  CRUSADES.     27 

byzants  of  gold  if  you  promise  me  Jerusalem,  and  you  shall 
have  liberty  to  go  whither  you  will  and  do  your  tillage,  to  a 
distance  of  five  miles  from  the  city.  And  I  will  have  you  sup- 
plied with  such  plenty  of  provisions  that  in  no  place  on  earth 
shall  they  be  so  cheap.  You  shall  have  a  truce  from  now  to 
Whitsuntide,  and  when  this  time  comes,  if  you  see  that  you  may 
have  aid,  then  hold  on.  But  if  not,  you  shall  give  up  the  city, 
and  I  will  have  you  conveyed  in  safety  to  Christian  territory, 
yourselves  and  your  substance."  "  We  may  not  yield  up  to  you 
a  city  where  died  our  God,"  answered  the  envoys :  "  and  still 
less  may  we  sell  you."  The  siege  lasted  fourteen  days.  After 
having  repulsed  several  assaults,  the  inhabitants  saw  that  ef- 
fectual resistance  was  impossible ;  and  the  commandant  of  the 
place,  a  knight  named  Balian  d'Ibelin,  an  old  warrior,  who  had 
been  at  the  battle  of  Tiberias,  returned  to  Saladin,  and  asked 
for  the  conditions  back  again  which  had  at  first  been  rejected. 
Saladin,  pointing  to  his  own  banner  already  planted  upon 
several  parts  of  the  battlements,  answered,  "It  is  too  late ; 
you  surely  see  that  the  city  is  mine."  "Very  well,  my  lord," 
replied  the  knight:  "  we  will  ourselves  destroy  our  city,  and  the 
mosque  of  Omar,  and  the  stone  of  Jacob :  and  when  it  is 
nothing  but  a  heap  of  ruins,  we  will  sally  forth  with  sword  and 
fire  in  hand,  and  not  one  of  us  will  go  to  Paradise  without 
having  sent  ten  Mussulmans  to  hell."  Saladin  understood 
enthusiasm,  and  respected  it ;  and  to  have  had  the  destruction 
of  Jerusalem  connected  with  his  name  would  have  caused  him 
deep  displeasure.  He  therefore  consented  to  the  terms  of  capit- 
ulation demanded  of  him.  The  fighting  men  were  permitted  to 
retreat  to  Tyre  or  Tripolis,  the  last  cities  of  any  importance, 
besides  Antioch,  in  the  power  of  the  Christians ;  and  the  simple 
inhabitants  of  Jerusalem  had  their  lives  preserved,  and  permis- 
sion given  them  to  purchase  their  freedom  on  certain  conditions ; 
but,  as  many  amongst  them  could  not  find  the  means,  Malek- 
Adhel,  the  sultan's  brother,  and  Saladin  himself  paid  the  ran- 
som of  several  thousands  of  captives.     All  Christians,  however, 


28  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF  FRANCE.     [Chap.  XVII. 

with  the  exception  of  Greeks  and  Syrians,  had  orders  to  leave 
Jerusalem  within  four  days.  When  the  day  came,  all  the 
gates  were  closed,  except  that  of  David  by  which  the  people 
were  to  go  forth ;  and  Saladin,  seated  upon  a  throne,  saw  the 
Christians  defile  before  him.  First  came  the  patriarch,  followed 
by  the  clergy,  carrying  the  sacred  vessels,  and  the  ornaments 
of  the  church  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre.  After  him  came  Sibylla, 
Queen  of  Jerusalem,  who  had  remained  in  the  city,  whilst  her 
husband,  Guy  de  Lusignan,  had  been  a  prisoner  at  Nablous 
since  the  battle  of  Tiberias.  Saladin  saluted  her  respectfully, 
and  spoke  to  her  kindly.  He  had  too  great  a  soul  to  take 
pleasure  in  the  humiliation  of  greatness. 

The  news,  spreading  through  Europe,  caused  amongst  all 
classes  there,  high  and  low,  a  deep  feeling  of  sorrow,  anger, 
disquietude,  and  shame.  Jerusalem  was  a  very  different  thing 
from  Edessa.  The  fall  of  the  kingdom  of  Jerusalem  meant 
the  sepulchre  of  Jesus  Christ  fallen  once  more  into  the  hands 
of  the  infidels,  and,  at  the  same  time,  the  destruction  of  what 
had  been  wrought  by  Christian  Europe  in  the  East,  the  loss  of 
the  only  striking  and  permanent  gage  of  her  victories.  Chris- 
tian pride  was  as  much  wounded  as  Christian  piety.  A  new 
fact,  moreover,  was  conspicuous  in  this  series  of  reverses  and 
in  the  accounts  received  of  them  ;  after  all  its  defeats  and  in 
the  midst  of  its  discord,  Islamry  had  found  a  chieftain  and  a 
hero.  Saladin  was  one  of  those  strange  and  superior  beings 
who,  by  their  qualities  and  by  their  very  defects,  make  a  strong 
impression  upon  the  imaginations  of  men,  whether  friends  or 
foes.  His  Mussulman  fanaticism  was  quite  as  impassioned  as 
the  Christian  fanaticism  of  the  most  ardent  crusaders.  When 
he  heard  that  Reginald  of  Chatillon,  Lord  of  Karac,  on  the 
confines  of  Palestine  and  Arabia,  had  all  but  succeeded  in  an 
attempt  to  go  and  pillage  the  Caaba  and  the  tomb  of  Mahomet, 
he  wrote  to  his  brother  Malek-Adhel,  at  that  time  governor 
of  Egypt,  "  The  infidels  have  violated  the  home  and  the  cradle 
of  Islamism ;  they  have  profaned  our  sanctuary.     Did  we  not 


THE   CHRISTIANS   OF  THE   HOLY   CITY   DEFILING   BEFORE   SALADIN.  -  Page  28. 


Chap.  XVIL]     DECLINE  AND  END  OF  THE  CRUSADES.       29 

prevent  a  like  insult  (which  God  forbid ! )  we  should  render 
ourselves  guilty  in  the  eyes  of  God  and  the  eyes  of  men. 
Purge  we,  therefore,  our  land  from  these  men  who  dishonor  it ; 
purge  we  the  very  air  from  the  air  they  breathe."  He  com- 
manded that  all  the  Christians  who  could  possibly  be  captured 
on  this  occasion  should  be  put  to  death ;  and  many  were  taken 
to  Mecca,  where  the  Mussulman  pilgrims  immolated  them 
instead  of  the  sheep  and  lambs  they  were  accustomed  to 
sacrifice.  The  expulsion  of  the  Christians  from  Palestine  was 
Saladin's  great  idea  and  unwavering  passion ;  and  he  severely 
chid  the  Mussulmans  for  their  soft-hear tedness  in  the  struggle. 
"  Behold  these  Christians,"  he  wrote  to  the  Khalif  of  Bagdad, 
"  how  they  come  crowding  in  !  How  emulously  they  press  on ! 
They  are  continually  receiving  fresh  re-enforcements  more 
numerous  than  the  waves  of  the  sea,  and  to  us  more  bitter 
than  its  brackish  waters.  Where  one  dies  by  land,  a  thousand 
come  by  sea.  .  .  .  The  crop  is  more  abundant  than  the  harvest ; 
the  tree  puts  forth  more  branches  than  the  axe  can  lop  off.  It 
is  true  that  great  numbers  have  already  perished,  insomuch  that 
the  edge  of  our  swords  is  blunted  ;  but  our  comrades  are  begin- 
ning to  grow  weary  of  so  long  a  war.  Haste  we,  therefore,  to 
implore  the  help  of  the  Lord."  Nor  needed  he  the  excuse  of 
passion  in  order  to  be  cruel  and  sanguinary  when  he  considered 
it  would  serve  his  cause  ;  for  human  lives  and  deaths  he  had  that 
barbaric  indifference  which  Christianity  alone  has  rooted  out  from 
the  communities  of  men,  whilst  it  has  remained  familiar  to  the 
Mussulman.  When  he  found  himself,  either  during  or  after  a 
battle,  confronted  by  enemies  whom  he  really  dreaded,  such  as 
the  Hospitallers  of  St.  John  of  Jerusalem  or  the  Templars,  he 
had  them  massacred,  and  sometimes  gave  them  their  death-blow 
himself,  with  cool  satisfaction.  But,  apart  from  open  war  and 
the  hatred  inspired  by  passion  or  cold  calculation,  he  was 
moderate  and  generous,  gentle  towards  the  vanquished  and  the 
weak,  just  and  compassionate  towards  his  subjects,  faithful  to 
his  engagements,  and  capable  of  feeling  sympathetic  admiration 


30  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.     [Chap.  XVII. 

for  men,  even  his  enemies,  in  whom  he  recognized  superior 
qualities,  courage,  loyalty,  and  loftiness  of  mind.  For  Chris- 
tian knighthood,  its  precepts  and  the  noble  character  it  stamped 
upon  its  professors,  he  felt  so  much  respect  and  even  inclination 
that  the  wish  of  his  heart,  it  is  said,  was  to  receive  the  title 
of  knight,  and  that  he  did,  in  fact,  receive  it  with  the  approval 
of  Richard  Cceur  de  Lion.  By  reason  of  all  these  facts  and  on 
all  these  grounds  he  acquired,  even  amongst  the  Christians,  that 
popularity  which  attaches  itself  to  greatness  justified  by  per- 
sonal deeds  and  living  proofs,  in  spite  of  the  fear  and  even  the 
hatred  inspired  thereby.  Christian  Europe  saw  in  him  the 
able  and  potent  chief  of  Mussulman  Asia,  and,  whilst  detest- 
ing, admired  him. 

After  the  capture  of  Jerusalem  by  Saladin,  the  Christians 
of  the  East,  in  their  distress,  sent  to  the  West  their  most 
eloquent  prelate  and  gravest  historian  William,  Archbishop  of 
Tyre,  who,  fifteen  years  before,  in  the  reign  of  Baldwin  IV., 
had  been  Chancellor  of  the  kingdom  of  Jerusalem.  He,  accom- 
panied by  a  legate  of  Pope  Gregory  VIII. ,  scoured  Italy, 
France,  and  Germany,  recounting  everywhere  the  miseries  of 
the  Holy  Land,  and  imploring  the  aid  of  all  Christian  princes 
and  peoples,  whatever  might  be  their  own  position  of  affairs 
and  their  own  quarrels  in  Europe.  At  a  parliament  assembled 
at  Gisors,  on  the  21st  of  January,  1188,  and  at  a  diet  convoked 
at  Mayence  on  the  27th  of  March  following,  he  so  powerfully 
affected  the  knighthood  of  France,  England,  and  Germany, 
that  the  three  sovereigns  of  these  three  states,  Philip  Augustus, 
Richard  Cceur  de  Lion,  and  Frederick  Barbarossa,  engaged  with 
acclamation  in  a  new  crusade.  They  were  princes  of  very 
different  ages  and  degrees  of  merit,  but  all  three  distinguished 
for  their  personal  qualities  as  well  as  their  puissance.  Frederick 
Barbarossa  was  sixty-seven,  and  for  the  last  thirty-six  years 
had  been  leading,  in  Germany  and  Italy,  as  politician  and 
soldier,  a  very  active  and  stormy  existence.  Richard  Cceur  de 
Lion   was   thirty-one,  and   had  but  just  ascended   the   throne 


Chap.  XVII.]     DECLINE   AND  END    OF  THE   CRUSADES.     31 

where  he  was  to  shine  as  the  most  valiant  and  adventurous  of 
knights  rather  than  as  a  king.  Philip  Augustus,  though  only 
twenty-three,  had  already  shown  signs,  beneath  the  vivacious 
sallies  of  youth,  of  the  reflective  and  steady  ability  characteris- 
tic of  riper  age.  Of  these  three  sovereigns,  the  eldest,  Frederick 
Barbarossa,  was  first  ready  to  plunge  amongst  the  perils  of  the 
crusade.  Starting  from  Ratisbonne  about  Christmas,  1189, 
with  an  army  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  men,  he  trav- 
ersed the  Greek  empire  and  Asia  Minor,  defeated  the  Sultan 
of  Iconium,  passed  the  first  defiles  of  Taurus,  and  seemed  to 
be  approaching  the  object  of  his  voyage,  when,  on  the  10th  of 
June,  1190,  having  arrived  at  the  borders  of  the  Selef,  a  small 
river  which  throws  itself  into  the  Mediterranean  close  to 
Seleucia,  he  determined  to  cross  it  by  fording,  was  seized  with 
a  chill,  and,  according  to  some,  drowned  before  his  people's 
eyes,  but,  according  to  others,  carried  dying  to  Seleucia,  where 
he  expired.  His  young  son  Conrad,  Duke  of  Suabia,  was 
not  equal  to  taking  the  command  of  such  an  army;  and  it 
broke  up. 

The  majority  of  the  German  princes  returned  to  Europe  : 
and  "  there  remained  beneath  the  banner  of  Christ  only  a  weak 
band  of  warriors  faithful  to  their  vow,  a  boy-chief,  and  a  bier. 
When  the  crusaders  of  the  other  nations,  assembled  before  St. 
Jean  d'Acre,  saw  the  remnant  of  that  grand  German  army 
arrive,  not  a  soul  could  restrain  his  tears.  Three  thousand 
men,  all  but  stark  naked,  and  harassed  to  death,  marched 
sorrowfully  along,  with  the  dried  bones  of  their  emperor  carried 
in  a  coffin.  For,  in  the  twelfth  century,  the  art  of  embalming 
the  dead  was  unknown.  Barbarossa,  before  leaving  Europe, 
had  asked  that,  if  he  should  die  in  the  crusade,  he  might  be 
buried  in  the  church  of  the  Resurrection  at  Jerusalem  ;  but  this 
wish  could  not  be  accomplished,  as  the  Christians  did  not  re- 
cover the  Holy  City,  and  the  mortal  remains  of  the  emperor 
were  carried,  as  some  say,  to  Tyre,  and,  as  others,  to  Antioch, 
where   his   tomb   has   not   been   discovered."     {Histoire   de   la 


32  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.     [Chap.  XVII. 

Lutte  des  Papes  et  des  Umpereurs  de  la  Maison  de  Souabe,  by 
M.  de  Cherrier,  Member  of  the  Institute,  t.  i.,  p.  222.) 

Frederick  Barbarossa  was  already  dead  in  Asia  Minor,  and 
the  German  army  was  already  broken  up,  when,  on  the  24th 
of  June,  1190,  Philip  Augustus  went  and  took  the  oriflamme 
at  St.  Denis,  on  his  way  to  Vezelai,  where  he  had  appointed  to 
meet  Richard,  and  whence  the  two  kings,  in  fact,  set  out,  on 
the  4th  of  July,  to  embark  with  their  troops,  Philip  at  Genoa, 
and  Richard  at  Marseilles.  They  had  agreed  to  touch  nowhere 
until  they  reached  Sicily,  where  Philip  was  the  first  to  arrive, 
on  the  16th  of  September ;  and  Richard  was  eight  da}Ts  later. 
But,  instead  of  simply  touching,  they  passed  at  Messina  all  the 
autumn  of  1190,  and  all  the  winter  of  1190-91,  no  longer 
seeming  to  think  of  anything  but  quarrelling  and  amusing 
themselves.  Nor  were  grounds  for  quarrel  or  opportunities  for 
amusements  to  seek.  Richard,  in  spite  of  his  promise,  was 
unwilling  to  marry  the  Princess  Alice,  Philip's  sister ;  and 
Philip,  after  lively  discussion,  would  not  agree  to  give  him  back 
his  word,  save  "in  consideration  of  a  sum  of  ten  thousand 
silver  marks,  whereof  he  shall  pay  us  three  thousand  at  the  feast 
of  All  Saints,  and  year  by  year  in  succession,  at  this  same  feast." 
Some  of  their  amusements  were  not  more  refined  than  their 
family  arrangements,  and  ruffianly  contests  and  violent  enmities 
sprang  up  amidst  the  feasts  and  the  games  in  which  kings  and 
knights  nearly  every  evening  indulged  in  the  plains  round  about 
Messina.  One  day  there  came  amongst  the  crusaders  thus 
assembled  a  peasant  driving  an  ass,  laden  with  those  long  and 
strong  reeds  known  by  the  name  of  canes.  English  and  French, 
with  Richard  at  their  head,  bought  them  of  him  ;  and,  mount- 
ing on  horseback,  ran  tilt  at  one  another,  armed  with  these  reeds 
by  way  of  lances.  Richard  found  himself  opposite  to  a  French 
knight,  named  William  des  Barres,  of  whose  strength  and  valor 
he  had  already,  not  without  displeasure,  had  experience  in 
Normandy.  The  two  champions  met  with  so  rude  a  shock 
that  their  reeds  broke,  and  the  king's  cloak  was  torn.     Bichard, 


Chap.  XVII.]     DECLINE  AND  END  OF  THE  CRUSADES.       33 

in  pique,  urged  his  horse  violently  against  the  French  knight, 
in  order  to  make  him  lose  his  stirrups ;  but  William  kept  a  firm 
seat,  whilst  the  king  fell  under  his  horse,  which  came  down  in 
his  impetuosity.  Richard,  more  and  more  exasperated,  had 
another  horse  brought,  and  charged  a  second  time,  but  with 
no  more  success,  the  immovable  knight.  One  of  Richard's 
favorites,  the  Earl  of  Leicester,  would  have  taken  his  place, 
and  avenged  his  lord;  but  "  let  be,  Robert,"  said  the  king: 
"it  is  a  matter  between  him  and  me;"  and  he  once  more 
attacked  William  des  Barres,  and  once  more  to  no  purpose. 
"  Fly  from  my  sight,"  cried  he  to  the  knight,  "  and  take  care 
never  to  appear  again  ;  for  I  will  be  ever  a  mortal  foe  to  thee, 
to  thee  and  thine."  William  des  Barres,  somewhat  discom- 
fited, went  in  search  of  the  King  of  France,  to  put  himself 
under  his  protection.  Philip  accordingly  paid  a  visit  to 
Richard,  who  merely  said,  "  I'll  not  hear  a  word."  It  needed 
nothing  less  than  the  prayers  of  the  bishops,  and  even,  it  is 
said,  a  threat  of  excommunication,  to  induce  Richard  to  grant 
William  des  Barres  the  king^s  peace  during  the  time  of  pil- 
grimage. 

Such  a  comrade  was  assuredly  very  inconvenient,  and  might 
be  under  difficult  circumstances  very  dangerous.  Philip,  with- 
out being  susceptible  or  quarrelsome,  was  naturally  indepen- 
dent, and  disposed  to  act,  on  every  occasion,  according  to  his 
own  ideas.  He  resolved,  not  to  break  with  Richard,  but  to 
divide  their  commands,  and  separate  their  fortunes.  On  the 
approach  of  spring,  1191,  he  announced  to  him  that  the  time 
had  arrived  for  continuing  their  pilgrimage  to  the  Holy  Land, 
and  that,  as  for  himself,  he  was  quite  ready  to  set  out.  "  I  am 
not  ready,"  said  Richard;  "and  I  cannot  depart  before  the 
middle  of  August."  Philip,  after  some  discussion,  set  out 
alone,  with  his  army,  on  the  30th  of  March,  and  on  the  14th  of 
April  arrived  before  St.  Jean  d'Acre.  This  important  place, 
of  which  Saladin  had  made  himself  master  nearly  four  years 
before,  was  being  besieged  by  the  last  King  of  Jerusalem,  Guy 

VOL.   II.  5 


34  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF    FRANCE.     [Chap.  XVII. 

de  Lusignan,  at  the  head  of  the  Christians  of  Palestine,  and 
by  a  multitude  of  crusaders,  Genoese,  Danish,  Flemish,  and 
German,  who  had  nocked  freely  to  the  enterprise.  A  strong 
and  valiant  Mussulman  garrison  was  defending  St.  Jean  d'Acre. 
Saladin  manoeuvred  incessantly  for  its  relief,  and  several 
battles  had  already  been  fought  beneath  the  walls.  When  the 
King  of  France  arrived,  "  he  was  received  by  the  Christians 
besieging,"  say  the  chronicles  of  St.  Denis,  "  with  supreme  joy, 
as  if  he  were  an  angel  come  down  from  heaven."  Philip  set 
vigorously  to  work  to  push  on  the  siege  ;  but  at  his  departure 
he  had  promised  Richard  not  to  deliver  the  grand  assault  until 
they  had  formed  a  junction  before  the  place  with  all  their  forces. 
Richard,  who  had  set  out  from  Messina  at  the  beginning  of 
May,  though  he  had  said  that  he  would  not  be  ready  till 
August,  lingered  again  on  the  way  to  reduce  the  island  of 
Cyprus,  and  to  celebrate  there  his  marriage  with  Berengaria 
of  Navarre,  in  lieu  of  Alice  of  France.  At  last  he  arrived, 
on  the  7th  of  June,  before  St.  Jean  d'Acre ;  and  several 
assaults  in  succession  were  made  on  the  place  with  equal 
determination  on  the  part  of  the  besiegers  and  the  besieged. 
"  The  tumultuous  waves  of  the  Franks,"  says  an  Arab  his- 
torian, "  rolled  towards  the  walls  of  the  city  with  the  rapidity 
of  a  torrent ;  and  they  climbed  the  half-ruined  battlements 
as  wild  goats  climb  precipitous  rocks,  whilst  the  Saracens 
threw  themselves  upon  the  besiegers  like  stones  unloosed 
from  the  top  of  a  mountain."  At  length,  on  the  13th  of 
July,  1191,  in  spite  of  the  energetic  resistance  offered  by  the 
garrison,  which  defended  itself  "  as  a  lion  defends  his  blood- 
stained den,"  St.  Jean  d'Acre  surrendered.  The  terms  of 
capitulation  stated  that  two  hundred  thousand  pieces  of  gold 
should  be  paid  to  the  chiefs  of  the  Christian  army;  that 
sixteen  hundred  prisoners  and  the  wood  of  the  true  cross  should 
be  given  up  to  them ;  and  that  the  garrison  as  well  as  all  the 
people  of  the  town  should  remain  in  the  conquerors'  power, 
pending  full  execution  of  the  treaty. 


Chap.  XVIL]     DECLINE  AND   END    OF  THE  CRUSADES.     35 

Whilst  the  siege  was  still  going  on,  the  discord  between  the 
Kings  of  France  and  England  was  increasing  in  animosity  and 
venom.  The  conquest  of  Cyprus  had  become  a  new  subject  of 
dispute.  When  the  French  were  most  eager  for  the  assault, 
King  Richard  remained  in  his  tent;  and  so  the  besieged  had 
scarcely  ever  to  repulse  more  than  one  or  other  of  the  kings  and 
armies  at  a  time.  Saladin,  it  is  said,  showed  Richard  particular 
attention,  sending  him  grapes  and  pears  from  Damascus ;  and 
Philip  conceived  some  mistrust  of  these  relations.  In  camp  the 
common  talk,  combined  with  anxious  curiosity,  was,  that  Philip 
was  jealous  of  Richard's  warlike  popularity,  and  Richard  was 
jealous  of  the  power  and  political  weight  of  the  King  of  France. 

When  St.  Jean  d'Acre  had  been  taken,  the  judicious  Philip, 
in  view  of  what  it  had  cost  the  Christians  of  East  and  West,  in. 
time  and  blood,  to  recover  this  single  town,  considered  that  a 
fresh  and  complete  conquest  of  Palestine  and  Syria,  which  was 
absolutely  necessary  for  a  re-establishment  of  the  kingdom  of 
Jerusalem,  was  impossible :  he  had  discharged  what  he  owed  to 
the  crusade ;  and  the  course  now  permitted  and  prescribed  to 
him  was  to  give  his  attention  to  France.  The  news  he  received 
from  home  was  not  encouraging;  his  son  Louis,  hardly  four 
years  old,  had  been  dangerously  ill ;  and  he  himself  fell  ill,  and 
remained  some  days  in  bed,  in  the  midst  of  the  town  he  had  just 
conquered.  His  enemies  called  his  illness  in  question,  for  al- 
ready there  was  a  rumor  abroad  that  he  had  an  idea  of  giving 
up  the  crusade,  and  returning  to  France ;  but  the  details  given 
by  contemporary  chroniclers  about  the  effects  of  his  illness 
scarcely  permit  it  to  be  regarded  as  a  sham.  "  Violent  sweats," 
they  say,  "  committed  such  havoc  with  his  bones  and  all  his 
members,  that  the  nails  fell  from  his  fingers  and  the  hair  from 
his  head,  insomuch  that  it  was  believed  —  and,  indeed,  the  ru- 
mor is  not  yet  dispelled — that  he  had  taken  a  deadly  poison." 
There  was  nothing  strange  in  Philip's  illness,  after  all  his 
fatigues,  in  such  a  country  and  such  a  season ;  Saladin,  too,  was 
ill  at  the  same  time,  and  more  than  once  unable  to  take  part 


36  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.     [Chap.  XVII. 

with  his  troops  in  their  engagements.  But,  however  that  may 
be,  a  contemporary  English  chronicler,  Benedict,  Abbot  of  Peter- 
borough, relates  that,  on  the  22d  of  July,  1191,  whilst  King 
Richard  was  playing  chess  with  the  Earl  of  Gloucester,  the 
Bishop  of  Beauvais,  the  Duke  of  Burgundy,  and  two  knights  of 
consideration,  presented  themselves  before  him  on  behalf  of  the 
King  of  France.  "They  were  dissolved  in  tears,"  says  he,  "in 
such  sort  they  could  not  utter  a  single  word  ;  and,  seeing  them 
so  moved,  those  present  wept  in  their  turn  for  pity's  sake. 
'  Weep  not,'  said  King  Richard  to  them ;  ' 1  know  what  ye  be 
come  to  ask;  your  lord,  the  King  of  France,  desireth  to  go 
home  again,  and  ye  be  come  in  his  name  to  ask  on  his  behalf  my 
counsel  and  leave  to  get  him  gone.'  '"It  is  true,  sir;  you  know 
all,'  answered  the  messengers ;  '  our  king  sayeth,  that  if  he 
depart  not  speedily  from  this  land,  he  will  surely  die.'  '  It  will 
be  for  him  and  for  the  kingdom  of  France,'  replied  King  Rich- 
ard, '  eternal  shame,  if  he  go  home  without  fulfilling  the  work 
for  the  which  he  came,  and  he  shall  not  go  hence  by  my  advice  ; 
but  if  he  must  die  or  return  home,  let  him  do  what  he  will,  and 
what  may  appear  to  him  expedient  for  him,  for  him  and  his.'  " 
The  source  from  which  this  story  comes,  and  the  tone  of  it,  are 
enough  to  take  from  it  all  authority ;  for  it  is  the  custom  of  mo- 
nastic chroniclers  to  attribute  to  political  or  military  characters 
emotions  and  demonstrations  alien  to  their  position  and  their  times. 
Philip  Augustus,  moreover,  was  one  of  the  most  decided,  most 
insensible  to  any  other  influence  but  that  of  his  own  mind,  and 
most  disregardful  of  his  enemies'  bitter  speeches,  of  all  the  kings 
in  French  history.  He  returned  to  France  after  the  capture  of 
St.  Jean  d'Acre,  because  he  considered  the  ultimate  success  of 
the  crusade  impossible,  and  his  return  necessary  for  the  interests 
of  France  and  for  his  own.  He  was  right  in  thus  thinking  and 
acting ;  and  King  Richard,  when  insultingly  reproaching  him  for 
it,  did  not  foresee  that,  a  year  later,  he  would  himself  be  doing 
the  same  thing,  and  would  give  up  the  crusade  without  having 
obtained  anything  more  for  Christendom,  except  fresh  reverses. 


RICHARD   CGBUR.DE   LION   HAVING  THE   SARACENS    BEHEADED.  —  Page  37. 


Chap.  XVII.]     DECLINE  AND   END    OF   THE  CRUSADES.     37 

On  the  31st  of  July,  1191,  Philip,  leaving  with  the  army  of 
the  crusaders  ten  thousand  foot  and  five  hundred  knights,  under 
the  command  of  Duke  Hugh  of  Burgundy,  who  had  orders  to 
obey  King  Richard,  set  sail  for  France  ;  and,  a  few  days  after 
Christmas  in  the  same  year,  landed  in  his  kingdom,  and  forth- 
with resumed,  at  Fontainebleau  according  to  some,  and  at  Paris 
according  to  others,  the  regular  direction  of  his  government. 
We  shall  see  before  long  with  what  intelligent  energy  and  with 
what  success  he  developed  and  consolidated  the  territorial  great- 
ness of  France  and  the  influence  of  the  kingship,  to  her  security 
in  Europe  and  her  prosperity  at  home. 

From  the  1st  of  August,  1191,  to  the  9th  of  October,  1192, 
King  Richard  remained  alone  in  the  East  as  chief  of  the  cru- 
sade and  defender  of  Christendom.  He  pertains,  during  that 
period,  to  the  history  of  England,  and  no  longer  to  that  of 
France.  We  will,  however,  recall  a  few  facts  to  show  how 
fruitless,  for  the  cause  of  Christendom  in  the  East,  was  the  pro- 
longation of  his  stay  and  what  strange  deeds  —  at  one  time  of 
savage  barbarism,  and  at  another  of  mad  pride  or  fantastic 
knight-errantry  —  were  united  in  him  with  noble  instincts  and 
the  most  heroic  courage.  On  the  20th  of  August,  1191,  five 
weeks  after  the  surrender  of  St.  Jean  d'Acre,  he  found  that  Sal- 
adin  was  not  fulfilling  with  sufficient  promptitude  the  conditions 
of  capitulation,  and,  to  bring  him  up  to  time,  he  ordered  the 
decapitation,  before  the  walls  of  the  place,  of,  according  to 
some,  twenty-five  hundred,  and,  according  to  others,  five  thou- 
sand, Mussulman  prisoners  remaining  in  his  hands.  The  only 
effect  of  this  massacre  was,  that  during  Richard's  first  campaign 
after  Philip's  departure  for  France,  Saladin  put  to  the  SAVord  all 
the  Christians  taken  in  battle  or  caught  straggling,  and  ordered 
their  bodies  to  be  left  without  burial,  as  those  of  the  garrison  of 
St.  Jean  d'Acre  had  been.  Some  months  afterwards  Richard 
conceived  the  idea  of  putting  an  end  to  the  struggle  between 
Christendom  and  Islamry,  which  he  was  not  succeeding  in  ter- 
minating  by  war,  by  a   marriage.     He   had  a  sister,  Joan   of 


38  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.     [Chap.  XVII. 

England,  widow  of  William  II.,  king  of  Sicily ;  and  Saladin 
had  a  brother,  Malek-Adhel,  a  valiant  warrior,  respected  by  the 
Christians.  Richard  had  proposals  made  to  Saladin  to  unite 
them  in  marriage  and  set  them  to  reign  together  over  the  Chris- 
tians and  Mussulmans  in  the  kingdom  of  Jerusalem.  The  only 
result  of  the  negotiation  was  to  give  Saladin  time  for  repairing 
the  fortifications  of  Jerusalem,  and  to  bring  down  upon  King 
Richard  and  his  sister,  on  the  part  of  the  Christian  bishops,  the 
fiercest  threats  of  the  fulminations  of  the  Church.  With  the 
exception  of  this  ridiculous  incident,  Richard's  life,  during  the 
whole  course  of  this  year,  was  nothing  but  a  series  of  great  or 
small  battles,  desperately  contested,  against  Saladin.  When 
Richard  had  obtained  a  success,  he  pursued  it  in  a  haughty,  pas- 
sionate spirit;  when  he  suffered  a  check,  he  offered  Saladin 
peace,  but  always  on  condition  of  surrendering  Jerusalem  to  the 
Christians,  and  Saladin  always  answered,  "  Jerusalem  never  was 
yours,  and  we  may  not  without  sin  give  it  up  to  you ;  for  it  is 
the  place  where  the  mysteries  of  our  religion  were  accomplished, 
and  the  last  one  of  my  soldiers  will  perish  before  the  Mussul- 
mans renounce  conquests  made  in  the  name  of  Mahomet." 
Twice  Richard  and  his  army  drew  near  Jerusalem,  "  without  his 
daring  to  look  upon  it,  he  said,  since  he  was  not  in  a  condition 
to  take  it."  At  last,  in  the  summer  of  1192,  the  two  armies 
and  the  two  chiefs  began  to  be  weary  of  a  war  without  result. 
A  great  one,  however,  for  Saladin  and  the  Mussulmans  was  the 
departure  of  Richard  and  the  crusaders.  Being  unable  to  agree 
about  conditions  for  a  definitive  peace,  they  contented  them- 
selves, on  both  sides,  with  a  truce  for  three  years  and  eight 
months,  leaving  Jerusalem  in  possession  of  the  Mussulmans,  but 
open  for  worship  to  the  Christians,  in  whose  hands  remained,  at 
the  same  time,  the  towns  they  were  in  occupation  of  on  the 
maritime  coast,  from  Jaffa  to  Tyre.  This  truce,  which  was 
called  peace,  having  received  the  signature  of  all  the  Christian 
and  Mussulman  princes,  was  celebrated  by  galas  and  tourna- 
ments, at  which  Christians  and  Mussulmans  seemed  for  a  mo- 


Chap.  XVII.]     DECLINE  AND   END   OF  THE   CRUSADES.    39 

ment  to  have  forgotten  their  hate  ;  and  on  the  9th  of  October, 
1192,  Richard  embarked  at  St.  Jean  d'Acre  to  go  and  run  other 
risks. 

Thus  ended  the  third  crusade,  undertaken  by  the  three  great- 
est sovereigns  and  the  three  greatest  armies  of  Christian  Europe, 
and  with  the  loudly  proclaimed  object  of  retaking  Jerusalem 
from  the  infidels,  and  re-establishing  a  king  over  the  sepulchre 
of  Jesus  Christ.  The  Emperor  Frederick  Barbarossa  perished 
in  it  before  he  had  trodden  the  soil  of  Palestine.  King  Philip 
Augustus  retired  from  it  voluntarily,  so  soon  as  experience  had 
foreshadowed  to  him  the  impossibility  of  success.  King  Richard 
abandoned  it  perforce,  after  having  exhausted  upon  it  his  hero- 
ism and  his  knightly  pride.  The  three  armies,  at  the  moment 
of  departure  from  Europe,  amounted,  according  to  the  historians 
of  the  time,  to  five  or  six  hundred  thousand  men,  of  whom 
scarcely  one  hundred  thousand  returned ;  and  the  only  result  of 
the  third  crusade  was  to  leave  as  head  over  all  the  most  beauti- 
ful provinces  of  Mussulman  Asia  and  Africa,  Saladin,  the  most 
illustrious  aud  most  able  chieftain,  in  war  and  in  politics,  that 
Islamry  had  produced  since  Mahomet. 

From  the  end  of  the  twelfth  to  the  middle  of  the  thirteenth 
century,  between  the  crusade  of  Philip  Augustus  and  that  of 
St.  Louis,  it  is  usual  to  count  three  crusades,  over  which  we 
will  not  linger.  Two  of  these  crusades  —  one,  from  1195  to 
1198,  under  Henry  VI.,  Emperor  of  Germany,  and  the  other, 
from  1216  to  1240,  under  the  Emperor  Frederick  II.  and  Andrew 
II.,  King  of  Hungary  —  are  unconnected  with  France,  and  al- 
most exclusively  German,  or,  in  origin  and  range,  confined  to 
Eastern  Europe.  They  led,  in  Syria,  Palestine,  and  Egypt,  to 
wars,  negotiations,  and  manifold  complications ;  Jerusalem  fell 
once  more,  for  a  while,  into  the  hands  of  the  Christians ;  and 
there,  on  the  18th  of  March,  1229,  in  the  church  of  the  Resur- 
rection, the  Emperor  Frederick  II.,  at  that  time  excommunicated 
by  Pope  Gregory  IX.,  placed  with  his  own  hands  the  royal 
crown  upon  his  head.     But  these  events,  confused,  disconnected, 


40  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.     [Chap.  XVII. 

and  short-lived  as  they  were,  did  not  produce  in  the  West,  and 
especially  in  France,  any  considerable  reverberation,  and  did 
not  exercise  upon  the  relative  situations  of  Europe  and  Asia,  of 
Christendom  and  Islamry,  any  really  historical  influence.  In 
people's  lives,  and  in  the  affairs  of  the  world,  there  are  many 
movements  of  no  significance,  and  more  cry  than  wool ;  and 
those  facts  only  which  have  had  some  weight  and  some  duration 
are  here  to  be  noted  for  study  and  comprehension.  The  event 
which  has  been  called  the  fifth  crusade  was  not  wanting,  so  far, 
in  real  importance,  and  it  would  have  to  be  described  here,  if  it 
had  been  really  a  crusade ;  but  it  does  not  deserve  the  name. 
The  crusades  were  a  very  different  thing  from  wars  and  con- 
quests ;  their  real  and  peculiar  characteristic  was,  that  they 
should  be  struggles  between  Christianity  and  Islamism,  between 
the  fruitful  civilization  of  Europe  and  the  barbarism  and  stagna- 
tion of  Asia.  Therein  consist  their  originality  and  their  gran- 
deur. It  was  certainly  on  this  understanding,  and  with  this 
view,  that  Pope  Innocent  III.,  one  of  the  greatest  men  of  the 
thirteenth  century,  seconded  with  all  his  might  the  movement 
which  was  at  that  time  springing  up  again  in  favor  of  a  fresh 
crusade,  and  which  brought  about,  in  1202,  an  alliance  between 
a  great  number  of  powerful  lords,  French,  Flemish,  and  Italian, 
and  the  republic  of  Venice,  for  the  purpose  of  recovering  Jeru- 
salem from  the  infidels.  But  from  the  very  first,  the  ambition, 
the  opportunities,  and  the  private  interests  of  the  Venetians, 
combined  with  a  recollection  of  the  perfidy  displayed  by  the 
Greek  emperors,  diverted  the  new  crusaders  from  the  design 
they  had  proclaimed.  What  Bohemond,  during  the  first  cru- 
sade, had  proposed  to  Godfrey  de  Bouillon,  and  what  the  Bishop 
of  Langres,  during  the  second,  had  suggested  to  Louis  the 
Young,  namely,  the  capture  of  Constantinople  for  the  sake  of 
insuring  that  of  Jerusalem,  the  first  crusaders  of  the  thirteenth 
century  were  led  by  bias,  greed,  anger,  and  spite  to  take  in  hand 
and  accomplish ;  they  conquered  Constantinople,  and,  having 
once  made  that  conquest,  they  troubled  themselves  no  more 


Chap.  XVII.]     DECLINE  AND  END  OF  THE  CRUSADES.       41 

about  Jerusalem.  Founded,  May  16th,  1204,  in  the  person  of 
Baldwin  IX.,  Count  of  Flanders,  the  Latin  empire  of  the  East 
existed  for  seventy  years,  in  the  teeth  of  many  a  storm,  only 
to  fall  once  more,  in  1273,  into  the  hands  of  the  Greek 
emperors,  overthrown  in  1453  by  the  Turks,  who  are  still  in 
possession. 

One  circumstance,  connected  rather  with  literature  than  poli- 
tics, gives  Frenchmen  a  particular  interest  in  this  conquest  of 
the  Greek  empire  by  the  Latin  Christians ;  for  it  was  a  French- 
man, Geoffrey  de  Villehardouin,  seneschal  of  Theobald  III., 
Count  of  Champagne,  who,  after  having  been  one  of  the  chief 
actors  in  it,  wrote  the  history  of  it ;  and  his  work,  strictly  his- 
torical as  to  facts,  and  admirably  epic  in  description  of  character 
and  warmth  of  coloring,  is  one  of  the  earliest  and  finest  monu- 
ments of  French  literature. 

But  to  return  to  the  real  crusades. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  thirteenth  century,  whilst  the  enter- 
prises which  were  still  called  crusades  were  becoming  more  and 
more  degenerate  in  character  and  potency,  there  was  born  in 
France,  on  the  25th  of  April,  1215,  not  merely  the  prince,  but 
the  man  who  was  to  be  the  most  worthy  representative  and  the 
most  devoted  slave  of  that  religious  and  moral  passion  wluch 
had  inspired  the  crusades.  Louis  IX.,  though  born  to  the  pur- 
ple, a  powerful  king,  a  valiant  warrior,  a  splendid  knight,  and 
an  object  of  reverence  to  all  those  who  at  a  distance  observed 
his  life,  and  of  affection  to  all  those  who  approached  his  person, 
was  neither  biassed  nor  intoxicated  by  any  such  human  glories 
and  delights ;  neither  in  his  thoughts  nor  in  his  conduct  did 
they  ever  occupy  the  foremost  place ;  before  all  and  above  all 
he  wished  to  be,  and  was  indeed,  a  Christian,  a  true  Christian, 
guided  and  governed  by  the  idea  and  the  resolve  of  defending 
the  Christian  faith  and  fulfilling  the  Christian  law.  Had  he 
been  born  in  the  most  lowly  condition,  as  the  world  holds,  or, 
as  religion,  the  most  commanding  ;  had  he  been  obscure,  needy, 
a  priest,  a  monk,  or  a  hermit,  he  could  not  have  been  more 

VOL.  II.  6 


42  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.     [Chap.  XVII. 

constantly  and  more  zealously  filled  with  the  desire  of  living  as 
a  faithful  servant  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  of  insuring,  by  pious 
obedience  to  God  here,  the  salvation  of  his  soul  hereafter.  This 
is  the  peculiar  and  original  characteristic  of  St.  Louis,  and  a  fact 
rare  and  probably  unique  in  the  history  of  kings.  (He  was 
canonized  on  the  11th  of  August,  1297  ;  and  during  twenty- 
four  years  nine  successive  popes  had  prosecuted  the  customary 
inquiries  as  to  his  faith  and  life.) 

It  is  said  that  the  Christian  enthusiasm  of  St.  Louis  had  its 
source  in  the  strict  education  he  received  from  Queen  Blanche, 
his  mother.  That  is  overstepping  the  limits  of  that  education  and 
of  her  influence.  Queen  Blanche,  though  a  firm  believer  and 
steadfastly  pious,  was  a  stranger  to  enthusiasm,  and  too  discreet 
and  too  politic  to  make  it  the  dominating  principle  of  her  son's 
life  any  more  than  of  her  own.  The  truth  of  the  matter  is  that, 
by  her  watchfulness  and  her  exactitude  in  morals,  she  helped  to 
impress  upon  her  son  the  great  Christian  lesson  of  hatred  for  sin 
and  habitual  concern  for  the  eternal  salvation  of  his  soul. 
"  Madame  used  to  say  of  me,"  Louis  was  constantly  repeating, 
"  that  if  I  were  sick  unto  death,  and  could  not  be  cured  save 
by  acting  in  such  wise  that  I  should  sin  mortally,  she  would  let 
me  die  rather  than  that  I  should  anger  my  Creator  to  my  dam- 
nation." 

In  the  first  years  of  his  government,  when  he  had  reached  his 
majority,  there  was  nothing  to  show  that  the  idea  of  the  crusade 
occupied  Louis  IX.'s  mind ;  and  it  was  only  in  1239,  when  he 
was  now  four  and  twenty,  that  it  showed  itself  vividly  in  him. 
Some  of  his  principal  vassals,  the  Counts  of  Champagne,  Brit- 
tany, and  Macon,  had  raised  an  army  of  crusaders,  and  were 
getting  ready  to  start  for  Palestine  ;  and  the  king  was  not  con- 
tented with  giving  them  encouragement,  but  "  he  desired  that 
Amaury  de  Montfort,  his  constable,  should,  in  his  name,  serve 
Jesus  Christ  in  this  war ;  and  for  that  reason  he  gave  him  arms 
and  assigned  to  him  per  day  a  sum  of  money,  for  which  Amaury 
thanked  him  on  his  knees,  that  is,  did  him  homage,  according  to 


Chap.  XVII.]     DECLINE   AND   END   OF  THE  CRUSADES.     43 

the   usage   of  those   times.     And   the   crusaders   were  mighty 
pleased  to  have  this  lord  with  them." 

Five  years  afterwards,  at  the  close  of  1244,  Louis  fell  seriously 
ill  at  Pontoise  ;  the  alarm  and  sorrow  in  the  kingdom  were 
extreme  ;  the  king  himself  believed  that  his  last  hour  was  come  ; 
and  he  had  all  his  household  summoned,  thanked  them  for  their 
kind  attentions,  recommended  them  to  be  good  servants  of  God, 
**  and  did  all  that  a  good  Christian  ought  to  do.  His  mother, 
his  wife,  his  brothers,  and  all  who  were  about  him  kept  continu- 
ally praying  for  him  ;  his  mother,  beyond  all  others,  adding  to 
her  prayers  great  austerities."  Once  he  appeared  motionless 
and  breathless ;  and  he  was  supposed  to  be  dead.  "  One  of  the 
dames  who  were  tending  him,"  says  Joinville,  "  would  have 
drawn  the  sheet  over  his  face,  saying  that  he  was  dead;  but 
another  dame,  who  was  on  the  other  side  of  the  bed,  would  not 
suffer  it,  saying  that  there  was  still  life  in  his  body.  When  the 
king  heard  the  dispute  between  these  two  dames,  our  Lord 
wrought  in  him  :  he  began  to  sigh,  stretched  his  arms  and  legs, 
and  said,  in  a  hollow  voice,  as  if  he  had  come  forth  from  the  tomb, 
4  He,  by  God's  grace,  hath  visited  me,  He  who  cometh  from  on 
high,  and  hath  recalled  me  from  amongst  the  dead.'  Scarcely 
had  he  recovered  his  senses  and  speech,  when  he  sent  for  Wil- 
liam of  Auvergne,  Bishop  of  Paris,  together  with  Peter  de 
Cuisy,  Bishop  of  Meaux,  in  whose  diocese  he  happened  to  be, 
and  requested  them  4  to  place  upon  his  shoulder  the  cross  of  the 
voyage  over  the  sea.'  The  two  bishops  tried  to  divert  him  from 
this  idea,  and  the  two  queens,  Blanche  and  Marguerite,  con- 
jured him  on  their  knees  to  wait  till  he  was  well,  and  after  that 
he  might  do  as  he  pleased.  He  insisted,  declaring  that  he  would 
take  no  nourishment  till  he  had  received  the  cross.  At  last  the 
Bishop  of  Paris  yielded,  and  gave  him  a  cross.  The  king 
received  it  with  transport,  kissing  it,  and  placing  it  right  gently 
upon  his  breast."  "  When  the  queen,  his  mother,  knew  that 
he  had  taken  the  cross,"  says  Joinville,  "  she  m?,Ie  as  great 
mourning  as  if  she  had  seen  him  dead." 


44  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.     [Chap.  XVII. 

Still  more  than  three  years  rolled  by  before  Louis  fulfilled  the 
engagement  which  he  had  thus  entered  into,  with  himself  alone, 
one  might  say,  and  against  the  wish  of  nearly  everybody  about 
him.  The  crusades,  although  they  still  remained  an  object  of 
religious  and  knightly  aspiration,  were  from  the  political  point 
of  view  decried ;  and,  without  daring  to  say  so,  many  men  of 
weight,  lay  or  ecclesiastical,  had  no  desire  to  take  part  in  them. 
Under  the  influence  of  this  public  feeling,  timidly  exhibited  but 
seriously  cherished,  Louis  continued,  for  three  years,  to  apply 
himself  to  the  interior  concerns  of  his  kingdom  and  to  his  rela- 
tions with  the  European  powers,  as  if  he  had  no  other  idea. 
There  was  a  moment  when  his  wisest  counsellors  and  the  queen 
his  mother  conceived  a  hope  of  inducing  him  to  give  up  his 
purpose.  "My  lord  king,"  said  one  day  that  same  Bishop  of 
Paris,  who,  in  the  crisis  of  his  illness,  had  given  way  to  his 
wishes,  "  bethink  you  that,  when  you  received  the  cross,  when 
you  suddenly  and  without  reflection  made  this  awful  vow,  you 
were  weak,  and,  sooth  to  say,  of  a  wandering  mind,  and  that 
took  away  from  your  words  the  weight  of  verity  and  authority. 
Our  lord  the  pope,  who  knoweth  the  necessities  of  your  king- 
dom and  your  weakness  of  body,  will  gladly  grant  unto  you  a 
dispensation.  Lo  !  we  have  the  puissance  of  the  schismatic  Em- 
peror Frederick,  the  snares  of  the  wealthy  King  of  the  English, 
the  treasons  but  lately  stopped  of  the  Poitevines,  and  the  subtle 
wranglings  of  the  Albigensians  to  fear  ;  Germany  is  disturbed ; 
Italy  hath  no  rest ;  the  Holy  Land  is  hard  of  access ;  you  will 
not  easily  penetrate  thither,  and  behind  you  will  be  left  the 
implacable  hatred  between  the  pope  and  Frederick.  To  whom 
will  you  leave  us,  every  one  of  us,  in  our  feebleness  and  des- 
olation ? "  Queen  Blanche  appealed  to  other  considerations, 
the  good  counsels  she  had  always  given  her  son,  and  the  pleas- 
ure God  took  in  seeing  a  son  giving  heed  to  and  believing  his 
mother  ;  and  to  hers  she  promised,  that,  if  he  would  remain, 
the  Holy  Land  should  not  suffer,  and  that  more  troops  should 
be  sent  thither  than  he  could  lead  thither  himself.     The  king 


Chap.  XVII.]     DECLINE  AND   END   OF  THE   CRUSADES.     45 

listened  attentively  and  with  deep  emotion.  u  You  say,"  he 
answered,  "  that  I  was  not  in  possession  of  my  senses  when  I 
took  the  cross.  Well,  as  you  wish  it,  I  lay  it  aside ;  I  give  it 
back  to  you ;  "  and  raising  his  hand  to  his  shoulder,  he  undid 
the  cross  upon  it,  saying,  "Here  it  is,  my  lord  bishop  ;  I  restore 
to  you  the  cross  I  had  put  on."  All  present  congratulated 
themselves ;  but  the  king,  with  a  sudden  change  of  look  and 
intention,  said  to  them,  "  My  friends,  now,  assuredly,  I  lack  not 
sense  and  reason  ;  I  am  neither  weak  nor  wandering  of  mind  ; 
and  I  demand  my  cross  back  again.  He  who  knoweth  all  things 
knoweth  that  until  it  is  replaced  upon  my  shoulder,  no  food 
shall  enter  my  lips."  At  these  words  all  present  declared  that 
"  herein  was  the  finger  of  God,  and  none  dared  to  raise,  in 
opposition  to  the  king's  saying,  any  objection." 

In  June,  1248,  Louis,  after  having  received  at  St.  Denis,  to- 
gether with  the  oriflamme,  the  scrip  and  staff  of  a  pilgrim,  took 
leave,  at  Corbeil  or  Cluny,  of  his  mother,  Queen  Blanche,  whom 
he  left  regent  during  his  absence,  with  the  fullest  powers. 
"  Most  sweet  fair  son,"  said  she,  embracing  him  ;  "  fair  tender 
son,  I  shall  never  see  you  more  ;  full  well  my  heart  assures  me." 
He  took  with  him  Queen  Marguerite  of  Provence,  his  wife,  who 
had  declared  that  she  would  never  part  from  him.  On  arriv- 
ing, in  the  early  part  of  August,  at  Aigues-Mortes,  he  found 
assembled  there  a  fleet  of  thirty-eight  vessels  with  a  certain 
number  of  transport-ships  which  he  had  hired  from  the  repub- 
lic of  Genoa ;  and  they  were  to  convey  to  the  East  the  troops 
and  personal  retinue  of  the  king  himself.  The  number  of  these 
vessels  proves  that  Louis  was  far  from  bringing  one  of  those 
vast  armies  with  which  the  first  crusades  had  been  familiar ;  it 
even  appears  that  he  had  been  careful  to  get  rid  of  such  mobs, 
for,  before  embarking,  he  sent  away  nearly  ten  thousand  bow- 
men, Genoese,  Venetian,  Pisan,  and  even  French,  whom  he  had 
at  first  engaged,  and  of  whom,  after  inspection,  he  desired  noth- 
ing further.  The  sixth  crusade  was  the  personal  achievement 
of  St.  Louis,  not  the  offspring  of  a  popular  movement,  and   he 


^-'  I- Oils  ADMINISTKRINC;  J 


ISIK   !• 


Chap.  XVII.]     DECLINE  AND  END  OF  THE  CRUSADES.       47 

The  crusader-chiefs  met  on  board  the  king's  ship,  the  Mount- 
joy ;  and  one  of  those  present,  Guy,  a  knight  in  the  train  of 
the  Count  of  Melun,  in  a  letter  to  one  of  his  friends,  a  student 
at  Paris,  reports  to  him  the  king's  address  in  the  following 
terms :  "  My  friends  and  lieges,  we  shall  be  invincible  if  we 
be  inseparable  in  brotherly  love.  It  was  not  without  the  will 
of  God  that  we  arrived  here  so  speedily.  Descend  Ave  upon 
this  land  and  occupy  it  in  force.  I  am  not  the  King  of  France. 
I  am  not  Holy  Church.  It  is  all  ye  who  are  King  and  Holy 
Church.  I  am  but  a  man  whose  life  will  pass  away  as  that 
of  any  other  man  whenever  it  shall  please  God.  Any  issue 
of  our  expedition  is  to  usward  good ;  if  we  be  conquered  we 
shall  wing  our  way  to  heaven  as  martyrs;  and  if  we  be  con- 
querors, men  will  celebrate  the  glory  of  the  Lord ;  and  that  of 
France,  and,  what  is  more,  that  of  Christendom,  will  grow 
thereby.  It  were  senseless  to  suppose  that  God,  whose  prov- 
idence is  over  everything,  raised  me  up  for  nought :  He  will 
see  in  us  His  own,  His  mighty  cause.  Fight  we  for  Christ ; 
it  is  Christ  who  will  triumph  in  us,  not  for  our  own  sake,  but 
for  the  honor  and  blessedness  of  His  name."  It  was  determined 
to  disembark  the  next  day.  An  army  of  Saracens  lined  the 
shore.  The  galley  which  bore  the  oriflamme  was  one  of  the 
first  to  touch.  When  the  king  heard  tell  that  the  banner  of 
St.  Denis  was  on  shore,  he,  in  spite  of  the  pope's  legate,  who 
was  with  him,  would  not  leave  it ;  he  leaped  into  the  sea, 
which  was  up  to  his  arm-pits,  and  Avent,  shield  on  neck,  helm 
on  head,  and  lance  in  hand,  and  joined  his  people  on  the  sea- 
shore. When  he  came  to  land,  and  perceived  the  Saracens, 
he  asked  what  folk  they  were,  and  it  was  told  him  that  they 
were  the  Saracens ;  then  he  put  his  lance  beneath  his  arm  and 
his  shield  in  front  of  him,  and  would  have  charged  the  Saracens, 
if  his  mighty  men,  who  were  with  him,  had  suffered  him. 

This,  from  his  very  first  outset,  was  Louis  exactly,  the  most 
fervent  of  Christians  and  the  most  splendid  of  knights,  much 
rather  than  a  general  and  a  king. 


48  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.     [Chap.  XVII. 

Such  he  appeared  at  the  moment  of  landing,  and  such  he  was 
during  the  whole  duration,  and  throughout  all  the  incidents  of 
his  campaign  in  Egypt,  from  June,  1249,  to  May,  1250 :  ever 
admirable  for  his  moral  greatness  and  knightly  valor,  but  with- 
out foresight  or  consecutive  plan  as  a  leader,  without  efficiency 
as  a  commander  in  action,  and  ever  decided  or  biassed  either  by 
his  own  momentary  impressions  or  the  fancies  of  his  comrades. 
He  took  Damietta  without  the  least  difficulty.  The  Mussul- 
mans, stricken  with  surprise  as  much  as  terror,  abandoned  the 
place ;  and  when  Fakr-Eddin,  the  commandant  of  the  Turks, 
came  before  the  Sultan  of  Egypt,  Malek-Saleh,  who  was  ill,  and 
almost  dying,  "  Couldst  thou  not  have  held  out  for  at  least  an 
instant ?"  said  the  sultan.  "What!  not  a  single  one  of  you 
got  slain  !  "  Having  become  masters  of  Damietta,  St.  Louis  and 
the  crusaders  committed  the  same  fault  there  as  in  the  Isle  of 
Cyprus :  they  halted  there  for  an  indefinite  time.  They  were 
expecting  fresh  crusaders ;  and  they  spent  the  time  of  expecta- 
tion in  quarrelling  over  the  partition  of  the  booty  taken  in  the 
city.  They  made  away  with  it,  they  wasted  it  blindly.  "  The 
barons,"  said  Joinville,  "  took  to  giving  grand  banquets,  with 
an  excess  of  meats;  and  the  people  of  the  common  sort  took  up 
with  bad  women."  Louis  saw  and  deplored  these  irregularities, 
without  being  in  a  condition  to  stop  them. 

At  length,  on  the  20th  of  November,  1249,  after  more  than 
five  months'  inactivity  at  Damietta,  the  crusaders  put  them- 
selves once  more  in  motion,  with  the  determination  of  marching 
upon  Babylon,  that  outskirt  of  Cairo,  now  called  Old  Cairo, 
which  the  greater  part  of  them,  in  their  ignorance,  mistook  for 
the  real  Babylon,  and  where  they  flattered  themselves  they 
would  find  immense  riches,  and  avenge  the  olden  sufferings  of 
the  Hebrew  captives.  The  Mussulmans  had  found  time  to  re- 
cover from  their  first  fright,  and  to  organize,  at  all  points,  a  vig- 
orous resistance.  On  the  8th  of  February,  1250,  a  battle  took 
place  twenty  leagues  from  Damietta,  at  Mansourah  (the  city  of 
victory},  on  the  right  bank  of  the  Nile.     The  king's  brotner, 


Chap.  XVII.]     DECLINE  AND   END    OF  THE   CRUSADES.     49 

Robert,  Count  of  Artois,  marched  with  the  vanguard,  and  ob- 
tained an  early  success ;  but  William  de  Sonnac,  grand  master 
of  the  Templars,  and  William  Longsword,  Earl  of  Salisbury, 
leader  of  the  English  crusaders  but  lately  arrived  at  Damietta, 
insisted  upon  his  waiting  for  the  king  before  pushing  the  victory 
to  the  uttermost.  Robert  taxed  them,  ironically,  with  caution. 
"  Count  Robert,"  said  William  Longsword,  "  we  shall  be  pres- 
ently where  thou'lt  not  dare  to  come  nigh  the  tail  of  my  horse." 
There  came  a  message  from  the  king  ordering  his  brother  to 
wait  for  him ;  but  Robert  made  no  account  of  it.  "  I  have 
already  put  the  Saracens  to  flight,"  said  he,  "and  I  will  wait 
for  none  to  complete  their  defeat ; "  and  he  rushed  forward  into 
Mansourah.  All  those  who  had  dissuaded  him  followed  after ; 
they  found  the  Mussulmans  numerous  and  perfectly  rallied ;  in 
a  few  moments  the  Count  of  Artois  fell,  pierced  with  wounds, 
and  more  than  three  hundred  knights  of  his  train,  the  same 
number  of  English,  together  with  their  leader,  William  Long- 
sword, and  two  hundred  and  eighty  Templars,  paid  with  their 
lives  for  the  senseless  ardor  of  the  French  prince. 

The  king  hurried  up  in  all  haste  to  the  aid  of  his  brother ;  but 
he  had  scarcely  arrived,  and  as  yet  knew  nothing  of  his  broth- 
er's fate,  when  he  himself  engaged  so  impetuously  in  the  battle 
that  he  was  on  the  point  of  being  taken  prisoner  by  six  Saracens 
who  had  already  seized  the  reins  of  his  horse.  He  was  defend- 
ing himself  vigorously  with  his  sword,  when  several  of  his 
knights  came  up  with  him,  and  set  him  free.  He  asked  one  of 
them  if  he  had  any  news  of  his  brother ;  and  the  other  an- 
swered, "  Certainly  I  have  news  of  him :  for  I  am  sure  that  he 
is  now  in  Paradise."  "  Praised  be  God  !  "  answered  the  king, 
with  a  tear  or  two,  and  went  on  with  his  fighting.  The  battle- 
field was  left  that  day  to  the  crusaders ;  but  they  were  not 
allowed  to  occupy  it  as  conquerors,  for,  three  days  afterwards, 
on  the  11th  of  February,  1250,  the  camp  of  St.  Louis  was 
assailed  by  clouds  of  Saracens,  horse  and  foot,  Mamelukes  and 
Bedouins.     All  surprise  had  vanished ,  the  Mussulmans  meas- 

VOL.  ir.  7 


50  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.     [Chap.  XVII. 

ured  at  a  glance  the  numbers  of  the  Christians,  and  attacked 
them  in  full  assurance  of  success,  whatever  heroism  they  might 
display  ;  and  the  crusaders  themselves  indulged  in  no  more  self- 
illusion,  and  thought  only  of  defending  themselves.  Lack  of 
provisions  and  sickness  soon  rendered  defence  almost  as  impos- 
sible as  attack  ;  every  day  saw  the  Christian  camp  more  and 
more  encumbered  with  the  famine-stricken,  the  dying,  and  the 
dead ;  and  the  necessity  for  retreating  became  evident.  Louis 
made  to  the  Sultan  Malek-Moaddam  an  offer  to  evacuate  Egypt, 
and  give  up  Damietta,  provided  that  the  kingdom  of  Jerusalem 
were  restored  to  the  Christians,  and  the  army  permitted  to  ac- 
complish its  retreat  without  obstruction.  The  sultan,  without 
accepting  or  rejecting  the  proposition,  asked  what  guarantees 
would  be  given  him  for  the  surrender  of  Damietta.  Louis 
offered  as  hostage  one  of  his  brothers,  the  Count  of  Anjou,  or 
the  Count  of  Poitiers.  "  We  must  have  the  king  himself,"  said 
the  Mussulmans.  A  unanimous  cry  of  indignation  arose  amongst 
the  crusaders.  "  We  would  rather,"  said  Geoffrey  de  Sargines, 
"  that  we  had  been  all  slain,  or  taken  prisoners  by  the  Saracens, 
than  be  reproached  with  having  left  our  king  in  pawn."  All 
negotiation  was  broken  off;  and  on  the  5th  of  April,  1250,  the 
crusaders  decided  upon  retreating. 

This  was  the  most  deplorable  scene  of  a  deplorable  drama ; 
and  at  the  same  time  it  was,  for  the  king,  an  occasion  for  dis- 
playing, in  their  most  sublime  and  most  attractive  traits,  all 
the  virtues  of  the  Christian.  Whilst  sickness  and  famine  were 
devastating  the  camp,  Louis  made  himself  visitor,  physician,  and 
comforter ;  and  his  presence  and  his  words  exercised  upon  the 
worst  cases  a  searching  influence.  He  had  one  day  sent  his 
chaplain,  William  de  Chartres,  to  visit  one  of  his  household 
servants,  a  modest  man  of  some  means,  named  Gaugelme,  who 
was  at  the  point  of  death.  When  the  chaplain  was  retiring,  "  I 
am  waiting  for  my  lord,  our  saintly  king,  to  come,"  said  the 
dying  man ;  "  I  will  not  depart  this  life  until  I  have  seen  him 
and  spoken  to  him:  and  then  I  will  die."     The  king  came,  and 


Chap.  XVIL]     DECLINE  AND   END   OF  THE   CRUSADES.     51 

addressed  to  him  the  most  affectionate  words  of  consolation; 
and  when  he  had  left  him,  and  before  he  had  re-entered  his  tent, 
he  was  told  that  Gaugelme  had  expired.  When  the  5th  of 
April,  the  clay  fixed  for  the  retreat,  had  come,  Louis  himself  was 
ill  and  much  enfeebled.  He  was  urged  to  go  aboard  one  of  the 
vessels  which  were  to  descend  the  Nile,  carrying  the  wounded 
and  the  most  suffering;  but  he  refused  absolutely,  saying,  "I 
don't  separate  from  my  people  in  the  hour  of  danger."  He 
remained  on  land,  and  when  he  had  to  move  forward  he  fainted 
twice.  When  he  came  to  himself,  he  was  amongst  the  last  to 
leave  the  camp,  got  himself  helped  on  to  the  back  of  a  little 
Arab  horse,  covered  with  silken  housings,  and  marched  at  a 
slow  pace  with  the  rear-guard,  having  beside  him  Geoffrey  de 
Sargines,  who  watched  over  him,  "  and  protected  me  against  the 
Saracens,"  said  Louis  himself  to  Joinville,  "as  a  good  servant 
protects  his  lord's  tankard  against  the  flies." 

Neither  the  king's  courage  nor  his  servants'  devotion  was 
enough  to  insure  success,  even  to  the  retreat.  At  four  leagues' 
distance  from  the  camp  it  had  just  left,  the  rear-guard  of  the 
crusaders,  harassed  by  clouds  of  Saracens,  was  obliged  to  halt. 
Louis  could  no  longer  keep  on  his  horse.  "  He  was  put  up  at  a 
house,"  says  Joinville,  "  and  laid,  almost  dead,  upon  the  lap  of 
a  tradeswoman  from  Paris ;  and  it  was  believed  that  he  would 
not  last  till  evening."  With  his  consent,  one  of  his  lieges  en- 
tered into  parley  with  one  of  the  Mussulman  chiefs ;  a  truce  was 
about  to  be  concluded,  and  the  Mussulman  was  taking  off  his 
ring  from  his  finger  as  a  pledge  that  he  would  observe  it.  "  But 
during  this,"  says  Joinville,  "there  took  place  a  great  mishap. 
A  traitor  of  a  sergeant,  whose  name  was  Marcel,  began  calling 
to  our  people,  '  Sirs  knights,  surrender,  for  such  is  the  king's 
command :  cause  not  the  king's  death.'  All  thought  that  it  was 
the  king's  command ;  and  they  gave  up  their  swords  to  the 
Saracens."  Being  forthwith  declared  prisoners,  the  king  and  all 
the  rear-guard  were  removed  to  Mansourah ;  the  king  by  boat ; 
and  his  two  brothers,  the  Counts  of  Anjou  and  Poitiers,  and  all 


52  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.     [Chap.  XVII. 

the  other  crusaders,  drawn  up  in  a  body  and  shackled,  followed 
on  foot  on  the  river  bank.  The  advance-guard,  and  all  the  rest 
of  the  army,  soon  met  the  same  fate. 

Ten  thousand  prisoners  —  this  was  all  that  remained  of  the 
crusade  that  had  started  eighteen  months  before  from  Aigues- 
Mortes.  Nevertheless  the  lofty  bearing  and  the  piety  of  the 
king  still  inspired  the  Mussulmans  with  great  respect.  A  nego- 
tiation was  opened  between  him  and  the  Sultan  Malek-Moad- 
dam,  who,  having  previously  freed  him  from  his  chains,  had  him 
treated  with  a  certain  magnificence.  As  the  price  of  a  truce 
and  of  his  liberty,  Louis  received  a  demand  for  the  immediate 
surrender  of  Damietta,  a  heavy  ransom,  and  the  restitution  of 
several  places  which  the  Christians  still  held  in  Palestine.  "  I 
cannot  dispose  of  those  places,"  said  Louis,  "  for  they  do  not 
belong  to  me ;  the  princes  and  the  Christian  orders,  in  whose 
hands  they  are,  can  alone  keep  or  surrender  them."  The  sul- 
tan, in  anger,  threatened  to  have  the  king  put  to  the  torture,  or 
sent  to  the  Grand  Khalif  of  Bagdad,  who  would  detain  him  in 
prison  for  the  rest  of  his  days.  "  I  am  your  prisoner,"  said 
Louis ;  "  you  can  do  with  me  what  you  will."  "  You  call  your- 
self our  prisoner,"  said  the  Mussulman  negotiators,  "and  so,  we 
believe  you  are ;  but  you  treat  us  as  if  you  had  us  in  prison." 
The  sultan  perceived  that  he  had  to  do  with  an  indomitable 
spirit ;  and  he  did  not  insist  any  longer  upon  more  than  the  sur- 
render of  Damietta,  and  on  a  ransom  of  five  hundred  thousand 
livres  (that  is,  about  ten  million  one  hundred  and  thirty-two 
thousand  francs,  or  four  hundred  and  five  thousand  two  hundred 
and  eighty  pounds,  of  modern  money,  according  to  M.  de  Wailly, 
supposing,  as  is  probable,  that  livres  of  Tours  are  meant).  "I 
will  pay  willingly  five  hundred  thousand  livres  for  the  deliver- 
ance of  my  people,"  said  Louis,  "  and  I  will  give  up  Damietta 
for  the  deliverance  of  my  own  person,  for  I  am  not  a  man  who 
ought  to  be  bought  and  sold  for  money."  "  By  my  faith,"  said 
the  sultan,  "  the  Frank  is  liberal  not  to  have  haggled  about  so 
large  a  sum.     Go  tell  him  that  I  will  give  him  one  hundred 


Chap.  XVII.]     DECLINE  AND   END    OF  THE  CRUSADES.     53 

thousand  livres  to  help  towards  paying  the  ransom.''  The  nego- 
tiation was  concluded  on  this  basis ;  and  victors  and  vanquished 
quitted  Mansourah,  and  arrived,  partly  by  land  and  partly  by 
the  Nile,  within  a  few  leagues  of  Damietta,  the  surrender  of 
which  was  fixed  for  the  7th  of  May.  But  five  days  previously 
a  tragic  event  took  place.  Several  emirs  of  the  Mamelukes 
suddenly  entered  Louis's  tent.  They  had  just  slain  the  Sultan 
Malek-Moaddam,  against  whom  they  had  for  some  time  been 
conspiring.  "  Fear  nought,  sir,"  said  they  to  the  king ;  "  this 
was  to  be ;  do  what  concerns  you  in  respect  of  the  stipulated 
conditions,  and  you  shall  be  free."  Of  these  emirs  one,  who 
had  slain  the  sultan  with  his  own  hand,  asked  the  king, 
brusquely,  "  What  wilt  thou  give  me  ?  I  have  slain  thine  en- 
emy, who  would  have  put  thee  to  death,  had  he  lived ;  "  and  he 
asked  to  be  made  knight.  Louis  answered  not  a  word.  Some 
of  the  crusaders  present  urged  him  to  satisfy  the  desire  of  the 
emir,  who  had  in  his  power  the  decision  of  their  fate.  "  I  will 
never  confer  knighthood  on  an  infidel,"  said  Louis ;  "  let  the 
emir  turn  Christian  ;  I  will  take  him  away  to  France,  enrich 
him,  and  make  him  knight."  It  is  said  that,  in  their  admiration 
for  this  piety  and  this  indomitable  firmness,  the  emirs  had  at  one 
time  a  notion  of  taking  Louis  himself  for  sultan  in  the  place  of 
him  whom  they  had  just  slain  ;  and  this  report  was  probably  not 
altogether  devoid  of  foundation,  for,  some  time  afterwards,  in 
the  intimacy  of  the  conversations  between  them,  Louis  one  day 
said  to  Joinville,  "Think  you  that  I  would  have  taken  the  king- 
dom of  Babylon,  if  they  had  offered  it  to  me  ?  "  "  Whereupon 
I  told  him,"  adds  Joinville,  "  that  he  would  have  done  a  mad 
act,  seeing  that  they  had  slain  their  lord ;  and  he  said  to  me  that 
of  a  truth  he  would  not  have  refused."  However  that  may  be, 
the  conditions  agreed  upon  with  the  late  Sultan  Malek-Moaddam 
were  carried  out ;  on  the  7th  of  May,  1250,  Geoffrey  de  Sargines 
gave  up  to  the  emirs  the  keys  of  Damietta;  and  the  Mussul- 
mans entered  in  tumultuously.  The  king  was  waiting  aboard 
his  ship  for  the  payment  which  his  people  were  to  make  for  the 


54  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.     [Chap.  XVII. 

release  of  his  brother,  the  Count  of  Poitiers ;  and,  when  he  saw 
approaching  a  bark  on  which  he  recognized  his  brother,  "  Light 
up  !  light  up  !  "  he  cried  instantly  to  his  sailors ;  which  was  the 
signal  agreed  upon  for  setting  out.  And  leaving  forthwith  the 
coast  of  Egypt,  the  fleet  which  bore  the  remains  of  the  Chris- 
tian army  made  sail  for  the  shores  of  Palestine. 

The  king,  having  arrived  at  St.  Jean  d'Acre  on  the  14th  of 
May,  1250,  accepted  without  shrinking  the  trial  imposed  upon 
him  by  his  unfortunate  situation.  He  saw  his  forces  consider- 
ably reduced ;  and  the  majority  of  the  crusaders  left  to  him, 
even  his  brothers  themselves,  did  not  hide  their  ardent  desire  to 
return  to  France.  He  had  that  virtue,  so  rare  amongst  kings, 
of  taking  into  consideration  the  wishes  of  his  comrades,  and  of 
desiring  their  free  assent  to  the  burden  he  asked  them  to  bear 
with  him.  He  assembled  the  chief  of  them,  and  put  the  ques- 
tion plainly  before  them.  "  The  queen,  my  mother,"  he  said, 
"biddeth  me  and  prayeth  me  to  get  me  hence  to  France,  for 
that  my  kingdom  hath  neither  peace  nor  truce  with  the  King  of 
England.  The  folk  here  tell  me  that,  if  I  get  me  hence,  this 
land  is  lost,  for  none  of  those  that  be  there  will  dare  to  abide  in  it. 
I  pray  you,  therefore,  to  give  it  thought,  for  it  is  a  grave  matter, 
and  I  grant  you  nine  days  for  to  answer  me  whatever  shall  seem 
to  you  good."  Eight  days  after,  they  returned;  and  Guy  de 
Mauvoisin,  speaking  in  their  name,  said  to  the  king,  "  Sir,  your 
brothers  and  the  rich  men  who  be  here  have  had  regard  unto 
your  condition,  and  they  see  that  you  cannot  remain  in  this 
country  to  your  own  and  your  kingdom's  honor,  for  of  all  the 
knights  who  came  in  your  train,  and  of  whom  you  led  into  Cy- 
prus twenty-eight  hundred,  there  remain  not  one  hundred  in 
this  city.  Wherefore  they  do  counsel  you,  sir,  to  get  you  hence 
to  France,  and  to  provide  troops  and  money  wherewith  you  may 
return  speedily  to  this  country,  to  take  vengeance  on  these 
enemies  of  God  who  have  kept  you  in  prison."  Louis,  without 
any  discussion,  interrogated  all  present,  one  after  another,  and 
all,  even  the  pope's  legate,  agreed  with  Guy  de  Mauvoisin.     "  I 


SIRE   DE   JOINVILLE.  —  Page  55. 


Chap.  XVII.]     DECLINE   AND  END   OF  THE   CRUSADES.     55 

was  seated  just  fourteenth,  facing  the  legate,"  says  Joinville, 
"and  when  he  asked  me  how  it  seemed  to  me,  I  answered 
him  that  if  the  king  could  hold  out  so  far  as  to  keep  the  field 
for  a  year,  he  would  do  himself  great  honor  if  he  remained." 
Only  two  knights,  William  de  Beaumont  and  Sire  de  Chatenay, 
had  the  courage  to  support  the  opinion  of  Joinville,  which 
was  bolder  for  the  time  being,  but  not  less  indecisive  in  re- 
spect of  the  immediate  future  than  the  contrary  opinion.  "  I 
have  heard  you  out,  sirs,"  said  the  king:  "and  I  will  answer 
you,  within  eight  da}7s  from  this  time,  touching  that  which  it 
shall  please  me  to  do."  "  Next  Sunday,"  says  Joinville,  "  we 
came  again,  all  of  us,  before  the  king.  « Sirs,'  said  he,  *  I 
thank  very  much  all  those  who  have  counselled  me  to  get 
me  gone  to  France,  and  likewise  those  who  have  counselled 
me  to  bide.  But  I  have  bethought  me  that,  if  I  bide,  I  see 
no  danger  lest  my  kingdom  of  France  be  lost,  for  the  queen, 
my  mother,  hath  a  many  folk  to  defend  it.  I  have  noted 
likewise  that  the  barons  of  this  land  do  say  that,  if  I  go  hence, 
the  kingdom  of  Jerusalem  is  lost.  At  no  price  will  I  suffer 
to  be  lost  the  kingdom  of  Jerusalem,  which  I  came  to  guard 
and  conquer.  My  resolve,  thep,  is,  that  I  bide  for  the  present. 
So  I  say  unto  you,  ye  rich  men  who  are  here,  and  to  all  other 
knights  who  shall  have  a  mind  to  bide  with  me,  come  and 
speak  boldly  unto  me,  and  I  will  give  ye  so  much  that  it 
shall  not  be  my  fault  if  ye  have  no  mind  to  bide.' " 

Thus  none,  save  Louis  himself,  dared  go  to  the  root  of  the 
question.  The  most  discreet  advised  him  to  depart,  only  for 
the  purpose  of  coming  back,  and  recommencing  what  had 
been  so  unsuccessful;  and  the  boldest  only  urged  him  to 
remain  a  year  longer.  None  took  the  risk  of  saying,  even 
after  so  many  mighty  but  vain  experiments,  that  the  enter- 
prise was  chimerical,  and  must  be  given  up.  Louis  alone 
was,  in  word  and  deed,  perfectly  true  to  his  own  absorbing 
idea  of  recovering  the  Holy  Sepulchre  from  the  Mussulmans 
and   re-establishing  the  kingdom   of  Jerusalem.     His  was   one 


56  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.     [Chap.  XVII. 

of  those  pure  and  majestic  souls,  which  are  almost  alien  to 
the  world  in  which  they  live,  and  in  which  disinterested 
passion  is  so  strong  that  it  puts  judgment  to  silence,  extin- 
guishes all  fear,  and  keeps  up  hope  to  infinity.  The  king's 
two  brothers  embarked  with  a  numerous  retinue.  How  many 
crusaders,  knights,  or  men-at-arms,  remained  with  Louis,  there 
is  nothing  to  show ;  but  they  were,  assuredly,  far  from  suffi- 
cient for  the  attainment  of  the  twofold  end  he  had  in  view, 
and  even  for  insuring  less  grand  results,  such  as  the  deliver- 
ance of  the  crusaders  still  remaining  prisoners  in  the  hands 
of  the  Mussulmans,  and  anything  like  an  effectual  protection 
for  the  Christians  settled  in  Palestine  and  Syria. 

Twice  Louis  believed  he  was  on  the  point  of  accomplish- 
ing his  desire.  Towards  the  end  of  1250,  and  again  in 
1252,  the  Sultan  of  Aleppo  and  Damascus,  and  the  Emirs 
of  Egypt,  being  engaged  in  a  violent  struggle,  made  offers 
to  him,  by  turns,  of  restoring  the  kingdom  of  Jerusalem  if 
he  would  form  an  active  alliance  with  one  or  the  other  party 
against  its  enemies.  Louis  sought  means  of  accepting  either 
of  these  offers  without  neglecting  his  previous  engagements, 
and  without  compromising  the  fate  of  the  Christians  still 
prisoners  in  Egypt,  or  living  in  the  territories  of  Aleppo  and 
Damascus  ;  but,  during  the  negotiations  entered  upon  with  a 
view  to  this  end,  the  Mussulmans  of  Syria  and  Egypt  sus- 
pended their  differences,  and  made  common  cause  against  the 
remnants  of  the  Christian  crusaders ;  and  all  hope  of  re-enter- 
ing Jerusalem  by  these  means  vanished  away.  Another  time, 
the  Sultan  of  Damascus,  touched  by  Louis's  pious  persever- 
ance, had  word  sent  to  him  that  he,  if  he  wished,  could  go 
on  a  pilgrimage  to  Jerusalem,  and  should  find  himself  in 
perfect  safety.  "  The  king,"  says  Joinville,  "  held  a  great 
council ;  and  none  urged  him  to  go.  It  was  shown  unto  him 
that  if  he,  who  was  the  greatest  king  in  Christendom,  per- 
formed his  pilgrimage  without  delivering  the  Holy  City  from 
the  enemies   of  God,  all   the   other   kings   and   other  pilgrims 


Chap.  XVII.]     DECLINE   AND   END   OF  THE   CRUSADES.     57 

who  came  after  him  would  hold  themselves  content  with 
doing  just  as  much,  and  would  trouble  themselves  no  more 
about  the  deliverance  of  Jerusalem.' '  He  was  reminded  of 
the  example  set  by  Richard  Cceur  de  Lion,  who,  sixty  years 
before,  had  refused  to  cast  even  a  look  upon  Jerusalem,  when 
he  was  unable  to  deliver  her  from  her  enemies.  Louis,  just 
as  Richard  had,  refused  the  incomplete  satisfaction  which  had 
been  offered  him,  and  for  nearly  four  years,  spent  by  him 
on  the  coasts  of  Palestine  and  Syria  since  his  departure  from 
Damietta,  from  1250  to  1254,  he  expended,  in  small  works  of 
piety,  sympathy,  protection,  and  care  for  the  future  of  the 
Christian  populations  in  Asia,  his  time,  his  strength,  his  pecu- 
niary resources,  and  the  ardor  of  a  soul  which  could  not  re- 
main icily  abandoned  to  sorrowing  over  great  desires  un- 
satisfied. 

An  unexpected  event  occurred  and  brought  about  all  at 
once  a  change  in  his  position  and  his  plans.  At  the  com- 
mencement of  the  year  1253,  at  Sidon,  the  ramparts  of  which 
he  was  engaged  in  repairing,  he  heard  that  his  mother,  Queen 
Blanche,  had  died  at  Paris  on  the  27th  of  November,  1252. 
"  He  made  so  great  mourning  thereat,"  says  Joinville,  "  that 
for  two  days  no  speech  could  be  gotten  of  him.  After  that 
he  sent  a  chamber-man  for  to  fetch  me.  When  I  came  before 
him,  in  his  chamber  where  he  was  alone,  so  soon  as  he  got 
sight  of  me,  he  stretched  forth  his  arms,  and  said  to  me,  *  O, 
seneschal,  I  have  lost  my  mother  ! '  "  It  was  a  great  loss  both 
for  the  son  and  for  the  king.  Imperious,  exacting,  jealous, 
and  often  disagreeable  in  private  life  and  in  the  bosom  of 
her  family,  Blanche  was,  nevertheless,  according  to  all  con- 
temporary authority,  even  the  least  favorable  to  her,  "  the 
most  discreet  woman  of  her  time,  with  a  mind  singularly 
quick  and  penetrating,  and  with  a  man's  heart  to  leaven  her 
woman's  sex  and  ideas ;  personally  magnanimous,  of  indomita- 
ble energy,  sovereign  mistress  in  all  the  affairs  of  her  age, 
guardian   and    protectress    of    France,    worthy   of    comparison 

VOL.  n.  8 


58  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.     [Chap.  XVII. 

with  Semiramis,  the  most  eminent  of  her  sex."  From  the 
time  of  Louis's  departure  on  the  crusade  as  well  as  during 
his  minority  she  had  given  him  constant  proofs  of  a  devotion 
as  intelligent  as  it  was  impassioned,  as  useful  as  it  was  master- 
ful. All  letters  from  France  demanded  the  speedy  return  of 
the  king.  The  Christians  of  Syria  were  themselves  of  the 
same  opinion ;  the  king,  they  said,  has  done  for  us,  here,  all 
he  could  do  ;  he  will  serve  us  far  better  by  sending  us  strong 
re-enforcements  from  France.  Louis  embarked  at  St.  Jean 
d'Acre,  on  the  24th  of  April,  1254,  carrying  away  with  him, 
on  thirteen  vessels,  large  and  small,  Queen  Marguerite,  his 
children,  his  personal  retinue,  and  his  own  more  immediate 
men-at-arms,  and  leaving  the  Christians  of  Syria,  for  their 
protection  in  his  name,  a  hundred  knights  under  the  orders 
of  Geoffrey  de  Sargines,  that  comrade  of  his  in  whose  bravery 
and  pious  fealty  he  had  the  most  entire  confidence.  After 
two  months  and  a  half  at  sea,  the  king  and  his  fleet  arrived, 
on  the  8th  of  July,  1254,  off  the  port  of  Hyeres,  which  at 
that  time  belonged  to  the  Empire,  and  not  to  France.  For 
two  days  Louis  refused  to  land  at  this  point;  for  his  heart 
was  set  upon  not  putting  his  foot  upon  land  again  save  on 
the  soil  of  his  own  kingdom,  at  Aigues-Mortes,  whence  he 
had,  six  years  before,  set  out.  At  last  he  yielded  to  the 
entreaties  of  the  queen  and  those  who  were  about  him, 
landed  at  Hyeres,  passed  slowly  through  France,  and  made 
his  solemn  entry  into  Paris  on  the  7th  of  September,  1254. 
"  The  burgesses  and  all  those  who  were  in  the  city  were 
there  to  meet  him,  clad  and  bedecked  in  all  their  best  ac- 
cording to  their  condition.  If  the  other  towns  had  received 
him  with  great  joy,  Paris  evinced  even  more  than  any  other. 
For  several  days  there  were  bonfires,  dances,  and  other  public 
rejoicings,  which  ended  sooner  than  the  people  wished ;  for 
the  king,  who  was  pained  to  see  the  expense,  the  dances, 
and  the  vanities  indulged  in,  went  off  to  the  wood  of  Vin- 
cennes  to  put  a  stop  to  them. 


Chap.  XVIL]     DECLINE  AND  END  OF  THE  CRUSADES.       59 

So  soon  as  he  had  resumed  the  government  of  his  king- 
dom, after  six  years'  absence  and  adventures,  heroic,  indeed, 
hut  all  in  vain  for  the  cause  of  Christendom,  those  of  his 
counsellors  and  servants  who  lived  most  closely  with  him 
and  knew  him  best  were  struck  at  the  same  time  with  what 
he  had  remained  and  what  he  had  become  during  this  long 
and  cruel  trial.  "  When  the  king  had  happily  returned  to 
France,  how  piously  he  bare  himself  towards  God,  how  justly 
towards  his  subjects,  how  compassionately  towards  the  afflicted, 
and  how  humbly  in  his  own  respect,  and  with  what  zeal 
he  labored  to  make  progress,  according  to  his  power,  in 
every  virtue,  all  this  can  be  attested  by  persons  who  care- 
fully watched  his  manner  of  life,  and  who  knew  the  spotless- 
ness  of  his  conscience.  It  is  the  opinion  of  the  most  clear- 
sighted and  the  wisest  that,  in  proportion  as  gold  is  more 
precious  than  silver,  so  the  manner  of  living  and  acting 
which  the  king  brought  back  from  his  pilgrimage  in  the 
Holy  Land  was  holy  and  new,  and  superior  to  his  former 
behavior,  albeit,  even  in  his  }'outh,  he  had  ever  been  good 
and  guileless,  and  worthy  of  high  esteem."  These  are  the 
words  written  about  St.  Louis  by  his  confessor  Geoffrey  de 
Beaulieu,  a  chronicler,  curt  and  simple  even  to  dryness,  but 
at  the  same  time  well  informed.  An  attempt  will  be  made 
presently  to  give  a  fair  idea  of  the  character  of  St.  Louis's 
government  during  the  last  fifteen  years  of  his  reign,  and  of 
the  place  he  fills  in  the  history  of  the  kingship  and  of  politics 
in  France  ;  but  just  now  it  is  only  with  the  part  he  played 
in  the  crusades  and  with  what  became  of  them  in  his  hands 
that  we  have  to  occupy  our  attention.  For  seven  years  after 
his  return  to  France,  from  1254  to  1261,  Louis  seemed  to 
think  no  more  about  them,  and  there  is  nothing  to  show  that 
he  spoke  of  them  even  to  his  most  intimate  confidants  ;  but, 
in  spite  of  his  apparent  calmness,  he  was  living,  so  far  as 
they  were  concerned,  in  a  continual  ferment  of  imagination 
and  internal  fever,  ever  flattering  himself  that  some  favorable 


60  POPULAR  HISTORY   OF  FRANCE.     [Chap.  XVII. 

circumstance  would  call  him  back  to  his  interrupted  work. 
And  he  had  reason  to  believe  that  circumstances  were  re- 
sponsive to  his  wishes.  The  Christians  of  Palestine  and  Syria 
were  a  prey  to  perils  and  evils  which  became  more  pressing 
every  day ;  the  cross  was  being  humbled  at  one  time  before 
the  Tartars  of  Tchingis-Khan,  at  another  before  the  Mussul- 
mans of  Egypt ;  Pope  Urban  was  calling  upon  the  King  of 
France ;  and  Geoffrey  de  Sargines,  the  heroic  representative 
whom  Louis  had  left  in  St.  Jean  d'Acre,  at  the  head  of  a 
small  garrison,  was  writing  to  him  that  ruin  was  imminent,  and 
speedy  succor  indispensable  to  prevent  it.  In  1261,  Louis 
held,  at  Paris,  a  parliament,  at  which,  without  any  talk  of  a 
new  crusade,  measures  were  taken  which  revealed  an  idea 
of  it :  there  were  decrees  for  fasts  and  prayers  on  behalf 
of  the  Christians  of  the  East  and  for  frequent  and  earnest 
military  drill.  In  1263,  the  crusade  was  openly  preached ; 
taxes  were  levied,  even  on  the  clergy,  for  the  purpose  of  con- 
tributing towards  it ;  and  princes  and  barons  bound  them- 
selves to  take  part  in  it.  Louis  was  all  aj^proval  and  encour- 
agement, without  declaring  his  own  intention.  In  1267,  a 
parliament  was  convoked  at  Paris.  The  king,  at  first,  con- 
versed discreetly  with  some  of  his  barons  about  the  new  plan 
of  crusade ;  and  then,  suddenly,  having  had  the  precious 
relics  deposited  in  the  Holy  Chapel  set  before  the  eyes  of 
the  assembly,  he  opened  the  session  by  ardently  exhorting 
those  present  "to  avenge  the  insult  which  had  so  long  been 
offered  to  the  Saviour  in  the  Holy  Land  and  to  recover  the 
Christian  heritage  possessed,  for  our  sins,  by  the  infidels." 
Next  year,  on  the  9th  of  February,  1268,  at  a  new  parliament 
assembled  at  Paris,  the  king  took  an  oath  to  start  in  the 
month  of  May,  1270. 

Great  was  the  surprise,  and  the  disquietude  was  even  greater 
than  the  surprise.  The  kingdom  was  enjoying  abroad  a  peace 
and  at  home  a  tranquillity  and  prosperity  for  a  long  time  past 
without   example ;   feudal   quarrels   were   becoming  more  rare 


Chap.  XVII.]     DECLINE  AND   END   OF  THE  CRUSADES.     61 

and  terminating  more  quickly ;  and  the  king  possessed  the 
confidence  and  the  respect  of  the  whole  population.  Why 
compromise  such  advantages  by  such  an  enterprise,  so  distant, 
so  costly,  and  so  doubtful  of  success  ?  Whether  from  good 
sense  or  from  displeasure  at  the  burdens  imposed  upon  them, 
many  ecclesiastics  showed  symptoms  of  opposition,  and  Pope 
Clement  IV.  gave  the  king  nothing  but  ambiguous  and  very 
reserved  counsel.  When  he  learned  that  Louis  was  taking 
with  him  on  the  crusade  three  of  his  sons,  aged  respectively 
twenty-two,  eighteen,  and  seventeen,  he  could  not  refrain 
from  writing  to  the  Cardinal  of  St.  Cecile,  "  It  doth  not  strike 
us  as  an  act  of  well-balanced  judgment  to  impose  the  taking 
of  the  cross  upon  so  many  of  the  king's  sons,  and  especially 
the  eldest ;  and,  albeit  we  have  heard  reasons  to  the  contrary, 
either  we  be  much  mistaken  or  they  are  utterly  devoid  of 
reason."  Even  the  king's  personal  condition  was  matter  for 
grave  anxiety.  His  health  was  very  much  enfeebled ;  and 
several  of  his  most  intimate  and  most  far-seeing  advisers 
were  openly  opposed  to  his  design.  He  vehemently  urged 
Joinville  to  take  the  cross  again  with  him ;  but  Joinville 
refused  downright.  "  I  thought,"  said  he,  "  that  they  all 
committed  a  mortal  sin  to  advise  him  the  voyage,  because  the 
whole  kingdom  was  in  fair  peace  at  home  and  with  all  neigh- 
bors, and,  so  soon  as  he  departed,  the  state  of  the  kingdom 
did  nought  but  worsen.  They  also  committed  a  great  sin  to 
advise  him  the  voyage  in  the  great  state  of  weakness  in 
which  his  body  was,  for  he  could  not  bear  to  go  by  chariot 
or  to  ride  ;  he  was  so  weak  that  he  suffered  me  to  carry  him 
in  my  arms  from  the  hotel  of  the  Count  of  Auxerre,  the 
place  where  I  took  leave  of  him,  to  the  Cordeliers.  And 
nevertheless,  weak  as  he  was,  had  he  remained  in  France, 
he  might  have  lived  yet  a  while  and  wrought  much  good." 
All  objections,  all  warnings,  all  anxieties  came  to  nothing 
in  the  face  of  Louis's  fixed  idea  and  pious  passion.  He  started 
from   Paris   on   the   16th   of  March,  1270,    a   sick  man  almost 


62  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.      [Chap.  XVII. 

already,  but  with  soul  content,  and  probably  the  only  one 
without  misgiving  in  the  midst  of  all  his  comrades.  It  was 
once  more  at  Aigues-Mortes  that  he  went  to  embark.  All 
was  as  yet  dark  and  undecided  as  to  the  plan  of  the  expedi- 
tion. Was  Egypt,  or  Palestine,  or  Constantinople,  or  Tunis, 
to  be  the  first  point  of  attack?  Negotiations,  touching  this 
subject,  had  been  opened  with  the  Venetians  and  the  Genoese 
without  arriving  at  any  conclusion  or  certainty.  Steps  were 
taken  at  hap-hazard  with  full  trust  in  Providence  and  utter 
forgetfulness  that  Providence  does  not  absolve  men  from 
foresight.  On  arriving  at  Aigues-Mortes  about  the  middle 
of  May,  Louis  found  nothing  organized,  nothing  in  readiness, 
neither  crusaders  nor  vessels ;  everything  was  done  slowly, 
incompletely,  and  with  the  greatest  irregularity.  At  last, 
on  the  2d  of  July,  1270,  he  set  sail  without  any  one's  know- 
ing and  without  the  king's  telling  any  one  whither  they  were 
going.  It  was  only  in  Sardinia,  after  four  days'  halt  at  Cagliari, 
that  Louis  announced  to  the  chiefs  of  the  crusade,  assembled 
aboard  his  ship  the  Mount lj 'oy ,  that  he  was  making  for  Tunis, 
and  that  their  Christian  work  would  commence  there.  The 
King  of  Tunis  (as  he  was  then  called),  Mohammed  Mostanser, 
had  for  some  time  been  talking  of  his  desire  to  become  a 
Christian,  if  he  could  be  efficiently  protected  against  the 
seditions  of  his  subjects.  Louis  welcomed  with  transport 
the  prospect  of  Mussulman  conversions.  "  Ah ! "  he  cried, 
"  if  I  could  only  see  myself  the  gossip  and  sponsor  of  so 
great  a  godson  !  " 

But  on  the  17th  of  July,  when  the  fleet  arrived  before  Tunis, 
the  admiral,  Florent  de  Varennes,  probably  without  the  king's 
orders  and  with  that  want  of  reflection  which  was  conspicuous 
at  each  step  of  the  enterprise,  immediately  took  possession  of 
the  harbor  and  of  some  Tunisian  vessels  as  prize,  and  sent  word 
to  the  king  "  that  he  had  only  to  support  him  and  that  the 
disembarkation  of  the  troops  might  be  effected  in  perfect  safety." 
Thus  war  was  commenced  at  the  very  first  moment  against  the 


Chap.  XVII.]     DECLINE  AND  END  OF  THE  CRUSADES.       63 

Mussulman   prince  whom  there  had  been  a  promise  of  seeing 
before  long  a  Christian. 

At  the  end  of  a  fortnight,  after  some  fights  between  the  Tuni- 
sians and  the  crusaders,  so  much  political  and  military  blindness 
produced  its  natural  consequences.  The  re-enforcements  prom- 
ised to  Louis,  by  his  brother  Charles  of  Anjou,  king  of  Sicily, 
had  not  arrived ;  provisions  were  falling  short ;  and  the  heats  of 
an  African  summer  were  working  havoc  amongst  the  army  with 
such  rapidity  that  before  long  there  was  no  time  to  bury  the 
dead,  but  they  were  cast  pell-mell  into  the  ditch  which  sur- 
rounded the  camp,  and  the  air  was  tainted  thereby.  On  the 
3d  of  August  Louis  was  attacked  by  the  epidemic  fever,  and 
obliged  to  keep  his  bed  in  his  tent.  He  asked  news  of  his  son 
John  Tristan,  Count  of  Nevers,  who  had  fallen  ill  before  him, 
and  whose  recent  death,  aboard  the  vessel  to  which  he  had  been 
removed  in  hopes  that  the  sea  air  might  be  beneficial,  had  been 
carefully  concealed  from  him.  The  count,  as  well  as  the  Prin- 
cess Isabel,  married  to  Theobald  the  Young,  King  of  Navarre, 
was  a  favorite  child  of  Louis,  who,  on  hearing  of  his  loss,  folded 
his  hands  and  sought  in  silence  and  prayer  some  assuagement 
of  his  grief.  His  malady  grew  Avorse  ;  and  having  sent  for  his 
successor,  Prince  Philip  (Philip  the  Bold),  he  took  from  his 
hour-book  some  instructions  which  he  had  written  out  for  him, 
with  his  own  hand  and  in  French,  and  delivered  them  to  him, 
bidding  him  to  observe  them  scrupulously.  He  gave  likewise 
to  his  daughter  Isabel,  who  was  weeping  at  the  foot  of  his  bed, 
and  to  his  son-in-law  the  King  of  Navarre,  some  writings  which 
had  been  intended  for  them,  and  he  further  charged  Isabel  to 
deliver  another  to  her  youngest  sister,  Agnes,  affianced  to  the 
Duke  of  Burgundy.  "  Dearest  daughter,"  said  he,  "  think  well 
hereon :  full  many  folk  have  fallen  asleep  with  wild  thoughts  of 
sin,  and  in  the  morning  their  place  hath  not  known  them." 
Just  after  he  had  finished  satisfying  his  paternal  solicitude,  it 
was  announced  to  him,  on  the  24th  of  August,  that  envoys  from 
the  Emperor  Michael  Palseologus  had  landed  at  Cape  Carthage, 


64  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.     [Chap.  XVII. 

with  orders  to  demand  his  intervention  with  his  brother  Charles, 
King  of  Sicily,  to  deter  him  from  making  war  on  the  but  lately 
re-established  Greek  empire.  Louis  summoned  all  his  strength 
to  receive  them  in  his  tent,  in  the  presence  of  certain  of  his 
counsellors,  who  were  uneasy  at  the  fatigue  he  was  imposing 
upon  himself.  "  I  promise  you,  if  I  live,"  said  he  to  the  envoys, 
"  to  co-operate,  so  far  as  I  may  be  able,  in  what  your  master 
demands  of  me ;  meanwhile,  I  exhort  you  to  have  patience,  and 
be  of  good  courage."  This  was  his  last  political  act,  and  his 
last  concern  with  the  affairs  of  the  world  ;  henceforth  he  was 
occupied  only  with  pious  effusions  which  had  a  bearing  at  one 
time  on  his  hopes  for  his  soul,  at  another  on  those  Christian 
interests  which  had  been  so  dear  to  him  all  his  life.  He  kept 
repeating  his  customary  orisons  in  a  low  voice,  and  he  was  heard 
murmuring  these  broken  words :  "  Fair  Sir  God,  have  mercy  on 
this  people  that  bicleth  here,  and  bring  them  back  to  their  own 
land !  Let  them  not  fall  into  the  hands  of  their  enemies,  and 
let  them  not  be  constrained  to  deny  Thy  name  !  "  And  at  the 
same  time  that  he  thus  expressed  his  sad  reflections  upon  the 
situation  in  which  he  was  leaving  his  army  and  his  people,  he 
cried  from  time  to  time,  as  he  raised  himself  on  his  bed,  "  Jeru- 
salem !  Jerusalem!  We  will  go  up  to  Jerusalem!"  During 
the  night  of  the  24th-25th  of  August  he  ceased  to  speak,  all 
the  time  continuing  to  show  that  he  was  in  full  possession  of 
his  senses ;  he  insisted  upon  receiving  extreme  unction  out  of 
bed,  and  lying  upon  a  coarse  sack-cloth  covered  with  cinders, 
with  the  cross  before  him  ;  and  on  Monday,  the  25th  of  August,. 
1270,  at  three  P.  M.,  he  departed  in  peace,  whilst  uttering  these 
his  last  words  :  "  Father,  after  the  example  of  the  Divine  Mas- 
ter, into  Thy  hands  I  commend  my  spirit !  " 


THE   DEATH  OF  ST.    LOUIS.  — Page 


Chap.  XVIII.1         THE   KINGSHIP   IN   FRANCE.  65 


CHAPTER    XVIII. 

THE  KINGSHIP   IN   FRANCE. 

THAT  the  kingship  occupied  an  important  place  and  played 
an  important  part  in  the  history  of  France  is  an  evident  and 
universally  recognized  fact.  But  to  what  causes  this  fact  was 
due,  and  what  particular  characteristics  gave  the  kingship  in 
France  that  preponderating  influence  which,  in  weal  and  in  woe, 
it  exercised  over  the  fortunes  of  the  country,  is  a  question  which 
has  been  less  closely  examined,  and  which  still  remains  vague 
and  obscure.  This  question  it  is  which  we  would  now  shed 
light  upon  and  determine  with  some  approach  to  precision.  We 
cannot  properly  comprehend  and  justly  appreciate  a  great  his- 
torical force  until  we  have  seen  it  issuing  from  its  primary 
source  and   followed  it  in  its  various  developments. 

At  the  first  glance,  two  facts  strike  us  in  the  history  of  the 
kingship  in  France.  It  was  in  France  that  it  adopted  soonest 
and  most  persistently  maintained  its  fundamental  principle, 
heredity.  In  the  other  monarchical  states  of  Europe  —  in 
England,  in  Germany,  in  Spain,  and  in  Italy  —  divers  principles, 
at  one  time  election,  and  at  another  right  of  conquest,  have  been 
mingled  with  or  substituted  for  the  heredity  of  the  throne ;  dif- 
ferent dynasties  have  reigned  ;  and  England  has  had  her  Saxon, 
Danish,  and  Norman  kings,  her  Plantagenets,  her  Tudors,  her 
Stuarts,  her  Nassaus,  her  Brunswicks.  In  Germany,  and  up  to 
the  eighteenth  century,  the  Empire,  the  sole  central  dignity,  was 
elective  and  transferable.  Spain  was  for  a  long  while  parcelled 
out  into  several  distinct  kingdoms,  and  since  she  attained  terri- 
torial unity  the  houses  of  Austria  and  Bourbon  have  both  occu- 

VOL.  II.  9 


66  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF  FRANCE.     [Chap.  XVIII. 

pied  her  throne.  The  monarchy  and  the  republic  for  many  a 
year  disputed  and  divided  Italy.  Only  in  France  was  there,  at 
any  time  during  eight  centuries,  but  a  single  king  and  a  single 
line  of  kings.  Unity  and  heredity,  those  two  essential  princi- 
ples of  monarchy,  have  been  the  invariable  characteristics  of  the 
kingship  in  France. 

A  second  fact,  less  apparent  and  less  remarkable,  but,  never- 
theless, not  without  importance  or  without  effect  upon  the  his- 
tory of  the  kingship  in  France,  is  the  extreme  variety  of  charac- 
ter, of  faculties,  of  intellectual  and  moral  bent,  of  policy  and 
personal  conduct  amongst  the  French  kings.  In  the  long  roll 
of  thirty-three  kings  who  reigned  in  France  from  Hugh  Capet 
to  Louis  XVI.  there  were  kings  wise  and  kings  foolish,  kings 
able  and  kings  incapable,  kings  rash  and  kings  slothful,  kings 
earnest  and  kings  frivolous,  kings  saintly  and  kings  licentious, 
kings  good  and  sympathetic  towards  their  people,  kings  egotisti- 
cal and  concerned  solely  about  themselves,  kings  lovable  and 
beloved,  kings  sombre  and  dreaded  or  detested.  As  we  go 
forward  and  encounter  them  on  our  way,  all  these  kingly  char- 
acters will  be  seen  appearing  and  acting  in  all  their  diversity 
and  all  their  incoherence.  Absolute  monarchical  power  in 
France  was,  almost  in  every  successive  reign,  singularly  modi- 
fied, being  at  one  time  aggravated  and  at  another  alleviated 
according  to  the  ideas,  sentiments,  morals,  and  spontaneous 
instincts  of  the  monarchs.  Nowhere  else,  throughout  the  great 
European  monarchies,  has  the  difference  between  kingly  person- 
ages exercised  so  much  influence  on  government  and  national 
condition.  In  that  country  the  free  action  of  individuals  has 
filled  a  prominent  place  and  taken  a  prominent  part  in  the 
course  of  events. 

It  has  been  shown  how  insignificant  and  inert,  as  sovereigns, 
were  the  first  three  successors  of  Hugh  Capet.  The  goodness 
to  his  people  displayed  by  King  Robert  was  the  only  kingly 
trait  which,  during  that  period,  deserved  to  leave  a  trace  in 
history.     The  kingship  appeared  once  more  with  the  attributes 


Chap.  XVIII.]        THE  KINGSHIP   IN   FRANCE.  67 

of  energy  and  efficiency  on  the  accession  of  Louis  VI.,  son  of 
Philip  I.  He  was  brought  up  in  the  monastery  of  St.  Denis, 
which  at  that  time  had  for  its  superior  a  man  of  judgment,  the 
Abbot  Adam ;  and  he  then  gave  evidence  of  tendencies  and 
received  his  training  under  influences  worthy  of  the  position 
which  awaited  him.  He  was  handsome,  tall,  strong,  and  alert, 
determined  and  yet  affable.  He  had  more  taste  for  military 
exercises  than  for  the  amusements  of  childhood  and  the  pleas- 
ures of  youth.  He  was  at  that  time  called  Louis  the  Wide- 
awake. He  had  the  good  fortune  to  find  in  the  Monastery  of  St. 
Denis  a  fellow-student  capable  of  becoming  a  king's  counsellor. 
Suger,  a  child  born  at  St.  Denis,  of  obscure  parentage,  and 
three  or  four  years  younger  than  Prince  Louis,  had  been  brought 
up  for  charity's  sake  in  the  abbey,  and  the  Abbot  Adam,  who 
had  perceived  his  natural  abilities,  had  taken  pains  to  develop 
them.  A  bond  of  esteem  and  mutual  friendship  was  formed 
between  the  two  young  people,  both  of  whom  were  disposed  to 
earnest  thought  and  earnest  living ;  and  when,  in  1108,  Louis 
the  Wide-awake  ascended  the  throne,  the  monk  Suger  became 
his  adviser  whilst  remaining  his  friend. 

A  very  small  kingdom  was  at  that  time  the  domain  belong- 
ing properly  and  directly  to  the  King  of  France.  Ile-de-France, 
properly  so  called,  and  a  part  of  Orleanness  (l'Orleanais),  pretty 
nearly  the  five  departments  of  the  Seine,  Seine-et-Oise,  Seine- 
et-Marne,  Oise  and  Loiret,  besides,  through  recent  acquisitions, 
French  Yexin  (which  bordered  on  the  Ile-de-France  and  had 
for  its  chief  place  Pontoise,  being  separated  by  the  little 
River  Epte  from  Norman  Vexin,  of  which  Rouen  was  the  capi- 
tal), half  the  countship  of  Sens  and  the  countship  of  Bourges 
—  such  was  the  whole  of  its  extent.  But  this  limited  state  was 
as  liable  to  agitation,  and  often  as  troublous  and  as  toilsome  to 
govern,  as  the  very  greatest  of  modern  states.  It  was  full  of 
petty  lords,  almost  sovereigns  in  their  own  estates,  and  suffi- 
ciently strong  to  struggle  against  their  kingly  suzerain,  who  had, 
besides,  all  around  his  domains,  several  neighbors  more  powerful 


68  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.      [Chap.  XVIII. 

than  himself  in  the  extent  and  population  of  their  states.  But 
lord  and  peasant,  layman  and  ecclesiastic,  castle  and  country 
and  the  churches  of  France,  were  not  long  discovering  that,  if 
the  kingdom  was  small,  it  had  verily  a  king.  Louis  did  not 
direct  to  a  distance  from  home  his  ambition  and  his  efforts ;  it 
was  within  his  own  dominion,  to  check  the  violence  of  the 
strong  against  the  weak,  to  put  a  stop  to  the  quarrels  of  the 
strong  amongst  themselves,  to  make  an  end,  in  France  at  least, 
of  unrighteousness  and  devastation,  and  to  establish  there  some 
sort  of  order  and  some  sort  of  justice,  that  he  displayed  his 
energy  and  his  perseverance.  "  He  was  animated,"  says  Suger, 
"  by  a  strong  sense  of  equity  ;  to  air  his  courage  was  his  delight ; 
he  scorned  inaction ;  he  opened  his  eyes  to  see  the  way  of  dis- 
cretion; he  broke  his  rest  and  was  unwearied  in  his  solicitude." 
Suger  has  recounted  in  detail  sixteen  of  the  numerous  expedi- 
tions which  Louis  undertook  into  the  interior,  to  accomplish  his 
work  of  repression  or  of  exemplary  chastisement.  Bouchard, 
Lord  of  Montmorency,  Matthew  de  Beaumont,  Dreux  de  Mou- 
chy-le-Chatel,  Ebble  de  Roussi,  Leon  de  Meun,  Thomas  de 
Marie,  Hugh  de  Crecy,  William  de  la  Roche-Guyon,  Hugh  du 
Puiset,  and  Amaury  de  Montfort  learned,  to  their  cost,  that  the 
king  was  not  to  be  braved  with  impunity.  "  Bouchard,  on 
taking  up  arms  one  day  against  him,  refused  to  accept  his  sword 
from  the  hands  of  one  of  his  people  who  offered  it  to  him,  and 
said  by  way  of  boast  to  the  countess  his  wife,  4  Noble  countess, 
give  thou  joyously  this  glittering  sword  to  the  count  thy  spouse : 
he  who  taketh  it  from  thee  as  count  will  bring  it  back  to  thee  as 
king.''  In  this  very  campaign,  Bouchard,  "by  his  death," 
says  Suger,  "  restored  peace  to  the  kingdom,  and  took  away 
himself  and  his  war  to  the  bottomless  pit  of  hell."  Hugh  du 
Puiset  had  frequently  broken  his  oaths  of  peace  and  recom- 
menced his  devastations  and  revolts  ;  and  Louis  resumed  his 
course  of  hunting  him  down,  "  destroyed  the  castle  of  Puiset, 
threw  down  the  walls,  dug  up  the  wells,  and  razed  it  com- 
pletely to  the   ground,  as  a  place   devoted  to   the  curse   of 


v»( 


iS  3*  t/Z~JL- 


DEFEAT   OF   THE   TURKS   BY   CRUSADERS. —Page  16. 


THOMAS   DE   MARLE   MADE   PRISONER.  —  Page  09. 


Chap.  XVIIL]       THE   KINGSHIP   IN   FRANCE.  69 

Heaven."  Thomas  de  Marie,  Lord  of  Couci,  had  been  com- 
mitting cruel  ravages  upon  the  town  and  church  of  Laon,  lands 
and  inhabitants ;  when  "  Louis,  summoned  by  their  complaints, 
repaired  to  Laon,  and  there,  on  the  advice  of  the  bishops  and 
grandees,  and  especially  of  Raoul,  the  illustrious  Count  of  Ver- 
mandois,  the  most  powerful,  after  the  king,  of  the  lords  in  this 
part  of  the  country,  he  determined  to  go  and  attack  the  castle 
of  Couci,  and  so  went  back  to  his  own  camp.  The  people  whom 
he  had  sent  to  explore  the  spot  reported  that  the  approach  to 
the  castle  was  very  difficult,  and  in  truth  impossible.  Many 
urged  the  king  to  change  his  purpose  in  the  matter;  but  he 
cried,  4  Nay,  what  we  resolved  on  at  Laon  stands :  I  would  not 
hold  back  therefrom,  though  it  were  to  save  my  life.  The  king's 
majesty  would  be  vilified,  if  I  were  to  fly  before  this  scoundrel.' 
Forthwith,  in  spite  of  his  corpulence,  and  with  admirable  ardor, 
he  pushed  on  with  his  troops  through  ravines  and  roads  encum- 
bered with  forests.  .  .  .  Thomas,  made  prisoner  and  mortally 
wounded,  was  brought  to  King  Louis,  and  by  his  order  removed 
to  Laon,  to  the  almost  universal  satisfaction  of  his  own  folk  and 
ours.  Next  day,  his  lands  were  sold  for  the  benefit  of  the  pub- 
lic treasury,  his  ponds  were  broken  up,  and  King  Louis,  sparing 
the  country  because  he  had  the  lord  of  it  at  his  disposal,  took 
the  road  back  to  Laon,  and  afterwards  returned  in  triumph  to 
Paris." 

Sometimes,  when  the  people,  and  their  habitual  protectors, 
the  bishops,  invoked  his  aid,  Louis  would  carry  his  arms  beyond 
his  own  dominions,  by  sole  right  of  justice  and  kingship.  "  It 
is  known,"  says  Suger,  "that  kings  have  long  hands."  In  1121, 
the  Bishop  of  Clermont-Ferrand  made  a  complaint  to  the  king 
against  William  VI.,  Count  of  Auvergne,  who  had  taken  pos- 
session of  the  town,  and  even  of  the  episcopal  church,  and  was 
exercising  therein  "  unbridled  tyranny.  The  king,  who  never 
lost  a  moment  when  there  was  a  question  of  helping  the  Church, 
took  up  with  pleasure  and  solemnity  what  was,  under  these  cir- 
cumstances, the  cause  of  God ;  and  having  been  unable,  either 


70  POPULAR   HISTORY    OF   FRANCE.     [Chap.  XVIII. 

by  word  of  mouth  or  by  letters  sealed  with  the  seal  of  the 
king's  majesty,  to  bring  back  the  tyrant  to  his  duty,  he  assem- 
bled his  troops,  and  led  into  revolted  Auvergne  a  numerous 
army  of  Frenchmen.  He  had  now  become  exceeding  fat,  and 
could  scarce  support  the  heavy  mass  of  his  body.  Any  one  else, 
however  humble,  would  have  had  neither  the  will  nor  the  power 
to  ride  a-horseback  ;  but  he,  against  the  advice  of  all  his  friends, 
listened  only  to  the  voice  of  courage,  braved  the  fiery  suns  of 
June  and  August,  which  were  the  dread  of  the  youngest 
knights,  and  made  a  scoff  of  those  who  could  not  bear  the  heat, 
although  many  a  time,  during  the  passage  of  narrow  and  diffi- 
cult swampy  places,  he  was  constrained  to  get  himself  held  on 
by  those  about  him."  After  an  obstinate  struggle,  and  at  the 
intervention  of  William  VII.,  Duke  of  Aquitaine,  the  Count  of 
Auvergne* s  suzerain,  "  Louis  fixed  a  special  day  for  regulating 
and  deciding,  in  parliament,  at  Orleans,  and  in  the  duke's  pres- 
ence, between  the  bishop  and  the  count,  the  points  to  which  the 
Auvergnats  had  hitherto  refused  to  subscribe.  Then  trium- 
phantly leading  back  his  army,  he  returned  victoriously  to 
France."  He  had  asserted  his  power,  and  increased  his  ascen- 
dency, without  any  pretension  to  territorial  aggrandizement. 

Into  his  relations  with  his  two  powerful  neighbors,  the  King 
of  England,  Duke  of  Normandy,  and  the  Emperor  of  Germany, 
Louis  the  Fat  introduced  the  same  watchfulness,  the  same  firm- 
ness, and,  at  need,  the  same  warlike  energy,  whilst  observing 
the  same  moderation,  and  the  same  policy  of  holding  aloof  from 
all  turbulent  or  indiscreet  ambition,  adjusting  his  pretensions  to 
his  power,  and  being  more  concerned  to  govern  his  kingdom 
efficiently  than  to  add  to  it  by  conquest.  Twice,  in  1109 
and  in  1118,  he  had  war  in  Normandy  with  Henry  I.,  King  of 
England,  and  he  therein  was  guilty  of  certain  temerities  result- 
ing in  a  reverse,  which  he  hastened  to  repair  during  a  vigorous 
prosecution  of  the  campaign ;  but,  when  once  his  honor  was 
satisfied,  he  showed  a  ready  inclination  for  the  peace  which  the 
Pope,  Calixtus  II.,  in  council  at  Rome,  succeeded  in  establishing 


Chap.  XVIIL]       THE   KINGSHIP   IN  FRANCE.  71 

between  the  two  rivals.  The  war  with  the  Emperor  of  Ger- 
many, Henry  V.,  in  1124,  appeared,  at  the  first  blush,  a  more 
serious  matter.  The  emperor  had  raised  a  numerous  army  of 
Lorrainers,  Allemannians,  Bavarians,  Suabians,  and  Saxons,  and 
was  threatening  the  very  city  of  Rheims  with  instant  attack. 
Louis  hastened  to  put  himself  in  position ;  he  went  and  took 
solemnly,  at  the  altar  of  St.  Denis,  the  banner  of  that  patron  of 
the  kingdom,  and  flew  with  a  mere  handful  of  men  to  confront 
the  enemy,  and  parry  the  first  blow,  calling  on  the  whole  of 
France  to  follow  him.  France  summoned  the  flower  of  her 
chivalry ;  and  when  the  army  had  assembled  from  every  quarter 
of  the  kingdom  at  Rheims,  there  was  seen,  says  Suger,  "  so 
great  a  host  of  knights  and  men  a-foot,  that  they  might  have 
been  compared  to  swarms  of  grasshoppers  covering  the  face  of 
the  earth,  not  only  on  the  banks  of  the  rivers,  but  on  the  moun- 
tains and  over  the  plains."  This  multitude  was  formed  in  three 
divisions.  The  third  division  was  composed  of  Orleanese,  Paris- 
ians, the  people  of  Etampes,  and  those  of  St.  Denis ;  and  at 
their  head  was  the  king  in  person:  "With  them,"  said  he,  UI 
shall  fight  bravely  and  with  good  assurance ;  besides  being  pro- 
tected by  the  saint,  my  liege  lord,  I  have  here  of  my  country- 
men those  who  nurtured  me  with  peculiar  affection,  and  who, 
of  a  surety,  will  back  me  living,  or  carry  me  off  dead,  and  save 
my  body."  At  news  of  this  mighty  host,  and  the  ardor  with 
which  they  were  animated,  the  Emperor  Henry  V.  advanced 
no  farther,  and,  before  long,  "marching,  under  some  pretext, 
towards  other  places,  he  preferred  the  shame  of  retreating  like 
a  coward  to  the  risk  of  exposing  his  empire  and  himself  to  cer- 
tain destruction.  After  this  victory,  which  was  more  than  as 
great  as  a  triumph  on  the  field  of  battle,  the  French  returned, 
every  one,  to  their  homes." 

The  three  elements  which  contributed  to  the  formation  and 
character  of  the  kingship  in  France,  —  the  German  element,  the 
Roman  element,  and  the  Christian  element,  —  appear  in  con- 
junction in  the  reign  of  Louis  the  Fat.     "We  have  still  the  war- 


72  POPULAR   HISTOKY   OF   FRANCE.     [Chap.  XVIII. 

rior-chief  of  a  feudal  society  founded  by  conquest  in  him  who, 
in  spite  of  his  moderation  and  discretion,  cried  many  a  time, 
says  Suger,  "  What  a  pitiable  state  is  this  of  ours,  to  never  have 
knowledge  and  strength  both  together !  In  my  youth  had 
knowledge,  and  in  my  old  age  had  strength  been  mine,  I  might 
have  conquered  many  kingdoms  ; "  and  probably  from  this  ex- 
clamation of  a  king  in  the  twelfth  century  came  the  familiar 
proverb,  "  If  youth  but  knew,  and  age  could  do  !  "  We  see  the 
maxims  of  the  Roman  empire  and  reminiscences  of  Charlemagne 
in  Louis's  habit  of  considering  justice  to  emanate  from  the  king 
as  fountain  head,  and  of  believing  in  his  right  to  import  it  every- 
where. And  what  conclusion  of  a  reign  could  be  more  Chris- 
tian-like than  his  when,  "  exhausted  by  the  long  enfeeblement 
of  his  wasted  body,  but  disdaining  to  die  ignobly  or  unprepar- 
edly, he  called  about  him  pious  men,  bishops,  abbots,  and  many 
priests  of  holy  Church ;  and  then,  scorning  all  false  shame,  he 
demanded  to  make  his  confession  devoutly  before  them  all,  and 
to  fortify  himself  against  death  by  the  comfortable  sacrament  of 
the  body  and  blood  of  Christ !  Whilst  everything  is  being  ar- 
ranged, the  king  on  a  sudden  rises,  of  himself,  dresses  himself, 
issues,  fully  clad,  from  his  chamber,  to  the  wonderment  of  all, 
advances  to  meet  the  body  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  pros- 
trates himself  in  reverence.  Thereupon,  in  the  presence  of  all, 
cleric  and  laic,  he  lays  aside  his  kingship,  deposes  himself  from 
the  government  of  the  state,  confesses  the  sin  of  having  ordered 
it  ill,  hands  to  his  son  Louis  the  king's  ring,  and  binds  him  to 
promise,  on  oath,  to  protect  the  Church  of  God,  the  poor,  and 
the  orphan,  to  respect  the  rights  of  everybody,  and  to  keep  none 
prisoner  in  his  court,  save  such  a  one  as  should  have  actually 
transgressed  in  the  court  itself." 

This  king,  so  well  prepared  for  death,  in  his  last  days  found 
great  cause  for  rejoicing  as  a  father.  William  VII. ,  Duke  of 
Aquitaine,  had,  at  his  death,  intrusted  to  him  the  guardianship 
of  his  daughter  Eleanor,  heiress  of  all  his  dominions,  that  is  to 
say,  of  Poitou,  of  Saintonge,  of  Gascony,  and  of  the  Basque 


Chap.  XVIIL]  THE   KINGSHIP   IX   FRANCE.  73 

country,  the  most  beautiful  provinces  of  the  south-west  of 
France,  from  the  lower  Loire  to  the  Pyrenees.  A  marriage 
between  Eleanor  and  Louis  the  Young,  already  sharing  his  fa- 
ther's throne,  was  soon  concluded;  and  a  brilliant  embassy, 
composed  of  more  than  five  hundred  lords  and  noble  knights,  to 
whom  the  king  had  added  his  intimate  adviser,  Suger,  set  out 
for  Aquitaine,  where  the  ceremony  was  to  take  place.  At  the 
moment  of  departure  the  king  had  them  all  assembled  about 
him,  and,  addressing  himself  to  his  son,  said,  "  May  the  strong 
hand  of  God  Almighty,  by  whom  kings  reign,  protect  thee,  my 
dear  son,  both  thee  and  thine  !  If,  by  any  mischance,  I  were  to 
lose  thee,  thee  and  those  I  send  with  thee,  neither  my  life,  nor 
my  kingdom  would  thenceforth  be  aught  to  me."  The  marriage 
took  jxlace  at  Bordeaux,  at  the  end  of  July,  1137,  and,  on  the 
8th  of  August  following,  Louis  the  Young,  on  his  way  back  to 
Paris,  was  crowned  at  Poitiers  as  Duke  of  Aquitaine.  He 
there  learned  that  the  king,  his  father,  had  lately  died,  on  the 
1st  of  August.  Louis  the  Fat  was  far  from  foreseeing  the  de- 
plorable issues  of  the  marriage,  which  he  regarded  as  one  of  the 
blessings  of  his  reign. 

In  spite  of  its  long  duration  of  forty-three  years,  the  reign  of 
Louis  VII.,  called  the  Young,  was  a  period  barren  of  events  and 
of  persons  worthy  of  keeping  a  place  in  history.  We  have 
already  had  the  story  of  this  king's  unfortunate  crusade  from 
1147  to  1149,  the  commencement  at  Antioch  of  his  imbroglio 
with  his  wife,  Eleanor  of  Aquitaine,  and  the  fatal  divorce  which, 
in  1152,  at  the  same  time  that  it  freed  the  king  from  a  faithless 
queen,  entailed  for  France  the  loss  of  the  beautiful  provinces 
she  had  brought  him  in  dowry,  and  caused  them  to  pass  into  the 
possession  of  Henry  II.,  King  of  England.  Here  was  the  only 
event,  under  Louis  the  Young's  reign,  of  any  real  importance, 
in  view  of  its  long  and  bloody  consequences  for  his  country.  A 
petty  war  or  a  sullen  strife  between  the  Kings  of  France  and 
England,  petty  quarrels  of  Louis  with  some  of  the  great  lords 
of  his  kingdom,  certain  rigorous  measures  against  certain  clis- 

vol.  ir.  10 


74  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.     [Chap.  XVIII. 

tricts  in  travail  of  local  liberties,  the  first  bubblings  of  that  reli- 
gious fermentation  which  resulted  before  long,  in  the  south  of 
France,  in  the  crusade  against  the  Albigensians  —  such  were  the 
facts  which  went  to  make  up  with  somewhat  of  insipidity  the 
annals  of  this  reign.  So  long  as  Suger  lived,  the  kingship  pre- 
served at  home  the  wisdom-  which  it  had  been  accustomed  to 
display,  and  abroad  the  respect  it  had  acquired  under  Louis  the 
Fat ;  but  at  the  death  of  Suger  it  went  on  languishing  and  de- 
clining, without  encountering  any  great  obstacles.  It  was  re- 
served for  Louis  the  Young's  son,  Philip  Augustus,  to  open  for 
France,  and  for  the  kingship  in  France,  a  new  era  of  strength 
and  progress. 

Philip  II.,  to  whom  histoiy  has  preserved  the  name  of  Philip 
Augustus,  given  him  by  his  contemporaries,  had  shared  the 
crown,  been  anointed,  and  taken  to  wife  Isabel  of  Hainault,  a 
year  before  the  death  of  Louis  VII.  put  him  in  possession  of  the 
kingdom.  He  was  as  yet  onty  fifteen,  and  his  father,  by  his 
will,  had  left  him  under  the  guidance  of  Philip  of  Alsace,  Count 
of  Flanders,  as  regent,  and  of  Robert  Clement,  marshal  of 
France,  as  governor.  But  Philip,  though  he  began  his  reign 
under  this  double  influence,  soon  let  it  be  seen  that  he  intended 
to  reign  by  himself,  and  to  reign  with  vigor.  "  Whatever  my 
vassals  do,"  said  he,  during  his  minority,  "  I  must  bear  with 
their  violence  and  outrageous  insults  and  villanous  misdeeds ; 
but,  please  God,  they  will  get  weak  and  old  whilst  I  shall  grow 
in  strength  and  power,  and  shall  be,  in  my  turn,  avenged  ac- 
cording to  my  desire."  He  was  hardly  twenty,  when,  one  day, 
one  of  his  barons  seeing  him  gnawing,  with  an  air  of  abstraction 
and  dreaminess,  a  little  green  twig,  said  to  his  neighbors,  "  If 
any  one  could  tell  me  what  the  king  is  thinking  of,  I 'would  give 
him  my  best  horse."  Another  of  those  present  boldly  asked  the 
King.  "  I  am  thinking,"  answered  Philip,  "  of  a  certain  mat- 
ter, and  that  is,  whether  God  will  grant  unto  me  or  unto  one  of 
my  heirs  grace  to  exalt  France  to  the  height  at  which  she  was 
in  the  time  of  Charlemagne." 


Chap.  XVIIL]       THE   KINGSHIP   IN   FRANCE.  75 

It  was  not  granted  to  Philip  Augustus  to  resuscitate  the 
Frankish  empire  of  Charlemagne,  a  work  impossible  for  him 
or  any  one  whatsoever  in  the  twelfth  and  thirteenth  centuries  ; 
but  he  made  the  extension  and  territorial  construction  of  the 
kingdom  of  France  the  chief  aim  of  his  life,  and  in  that  work 
he  was  successful.  Out  of  the  forty-three  years  of  his  reign, 
twenty-six  at  the  least  were  war-years,  devoted  to  that  very 
purpose.  During  the  first  six,  it  was  with  some  of  his  great 
French  vassals,  the  Count  of  Champagne,  the  Duke  of  Bur- 
gundy, and  even  the  Count  of  Flanders,  sometime  regent, 
that  Philip  had  to  do  battle,  for  they  all  sought  to  profit 
by  his  minority  so  as  to  make  themselves  independent  and 
aggrandize  themselves  at  the  expense  of  the  crown ;  but,  once 
in  possession  of  the  personal  power  as  well  as  the  title  of 
king,  it  was,  from  1187  to  1216,  against  three  successive  kings 
of  England,  Henry  II.,  Richard  Coeur  de  Lion,  and  John 
Lackland,  masters  of  the  most  beautiful  provinces  of  France, 
that  Philip  directed  his  persistent  efforts.  They  were  in  respect 
of  power,  of  political  capacity  and  military  popularity,  his  most 
formidable  foes.  Henry  II.,  what  with  his  ripeness  of  age, 
his  ability,  energy,  and  perseverance,  without  any  mean  jealousy 
or  puerile  obstinacy,  had  over  Philip  every  advantage  of  posi- 
tion and  experience,  and  he  availed  himself  thereof  with 
discretion,  habitually  maintaining  his  feudal  status  of  great 
French  vassal  as  well  as  that  of  foreign  sovereign,  seeking 
peace  rather  than  strife  with  his  youthful  suzerain,  and  some- 
times even  going  to  his  aid.  He  thus  played  off  the  greater 
part  of  the  undeclared  attempts  or  armed  expeditions  by  which, 
from  1186  to  1189,  Philip  tried  to  cut  him  short  in  his  French 
possessions,  and,  so  long  as  Henry  II.  lived,  there  were  but 
few  changes  in  the  territorial  proportions  of  the  two  states. 
But,  at  Henry's  death,  Philip  found  himself  in  a  very  differ- 
ent position  towards  Henry's  two  sons,  Richard  Cceur  de  Lion 
and  John  Lackland.  They  were  of  his  own  generation ;  he 
had  been  on  terms  with  them,  even  in  opposition  to  their  own 


76  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.     [Chap.  XVIII. 

father,  of  complicity  and  familiarity:  they  had  no  authority 
over  him,  and  he  had  no  respect  for  them.  Richard  was  the 
feudal  prince,  beyond  comparison  the  boldest,  the  most  un- 
reflecting, the  most  passionate,  the  most  ruffianly,  the  most 
heroic  adventurer  of  the  middle  ages,  hungering  after  move- 
ment and  action,  possessed  of  a  craving  spirit  for  displaying 
his  strength,  and  doing  his  pleasure  at  all  times  and  in  all 
places,  not  only  in  contempt  of  the  rights  and  well-being  of 
his  subjects,  but  at  the  risk  of  his  own  safety,  his  own  power, 
and  even  of  his  crown.  Philip  was  of  a  sedate  temperament, 
patient,  persevering,  moved  but  little  by  the  spirit  of  adven- 
ture, more  ambitious  than  fiery,  capable  of  far-reaching  designs, 
and  discreet  at  the  same  time  that  he  was  indifferent  as  to  the 
employment  of  means.  He  had  fine  sport  with  Richard.  We 
have  already  had  the  story  of  the  relations  between  them, 
and  their  rupture  during  their  joint  crusade  in  the  East. 
On  returning  to  the  West,  Philip  did  not  wrest  from  King 
Richard  those  great  and  definitive  conquests  which  were  to 
restore  to  France  the  greater  part  of  the  marriage-portion 
that  went  with  Eleanor  of  Aquitaine ;  but  he  paved  the  way 
for  them  by  petty  victories  and  petty  acquisitions,  and  by 
making  more  and  more  certain  his  superiority  over  his  rival. 
When,  after  Richard's  death,  he  had  to  do  with  John  Lack- 
land, cowardly  and  insolent,  knavish  and  addle-pated,  choleric, 
debauched,  and  indolent,  an  intriguing  subordinate  on  the 
throne  on  which  he  made  pretence  to  be  the  most  despotic 
of  kings,  Philip  had  over  him,  even  more  than  over  his 
brother  Richard,  immense  advantages.  He  made  such  use 
of  them  that  after  six  years'  struggling,  from  1199  to  1205, 
he  deprived  John  of  the  greater  part  of  his  French  posses- 
sions, Anjou,  Normandy,  Touraine,  Maine,  and  Poitou.  Philip 
would  have  been  quite  willing  to  dispense  with  any  legal  pro- 
cedure by  way  of  sanction  to  his  conquests,  but  John  furnished 
him  with  an  excellent  pretext ;  for  on  the  3d  of  April,  1203, 
he   assassinated  with   his   own  hand,  in  the  tower  of  Rouen, 


Chap.  XVIII.]       THE  KINGSHIP   IN   FRANCE.  77 

his  young  nephew  Arthur,  Duke  of  Brittany,  and  in  that 
capacity  vassal  of  Philip  Augustus,  to  whom  he  was  coming 
to  do  homage.  Philip  had  John,  also  his  vassal,  cited  before 
the  court  of  the  barons  of  France,  his  peers,  to  plead  his 
defence  of  this  odious  act.  "  King  John,"  says  the  contem- 
porary English  historian  Matthew  Paris,  "  sent  Eustace,  Bishop 
of  Ely,  to  tell  King  Philip  that  he  would  willingly  go  to  his 
court  to  answer  before  his  judges,  and  to  show  entire  obedi- 
ence in  the  matter,  but  that  he  must  have  a  safe-conduct. 
King  Philip  replied,  but  with  neither  heart  nor  visage  un- 
moved, 4  Willingly  ;  let  him  come  in  peace  and  safety.'  '  And 
return  so  too,  my  lord  ? '  said  the  bishop.  '  Yes,'  rejoined 
the  king,  '  if  the  decision  of  his  peers  allow  him.'  And  when 
the  envoys  from  England  entreated  him  to  grant  to  the  King 
of  England  to  go  and  return  in  safety,  the  King  of  France 
was  wroth,  and  answered  with  his  usual  oath,  '  No,  by  all  the 
saints  of  France,  unless  the  decision  tally  therewith.'  4  My 
lord  king,'  rejoined  the  bishop,  4  the  Duke  of  Normandy  can- 
not come  unless  there  come  also  the  King  of  England,  since 
the  duke  and  the  king  are  one  and  the  same  person.  The 
baronage  of  England  would  never  allow  it  in  any  way,  and 
if  the  king  were  willing,  he  would  run,  as  you  know,  risk 
of  imprisonment  or  death.'  King  Philip  answered  him, 
4  How  now,  my  lord  bishop  ?  It  is  well  known  that  my 
liegeman,  the  Duke  of  Normandy,  by  violence  got  possession 
of  England.  And  so,  prithee,  if  a  vassal  increase  in  honor 
and  power,  shall  his  lord  suzerain  lose  his  rights  ?     Never ! ' 

"King  John  was  not  willing  to  trust  to  chance  and  the 
decision  of  the  French,  who  liked  him  not ;  and  he  feared 
above  everything  to  be  reproached  with  the  shameful  murder 
of  Arthur.  The  grandees  of  France,  nevertheless,  proceeded 
to  a  decision,  which  they  could  not  do  lawfully,  since  he 
whom  they  had  to  try  was  absent,  and  would  have  gone 
had  he  been  able." 

The   condemnation,   not  a   whit   the  less,  took   full   effect; 


78  POPULAR   HISTORY  OF   FRANCE.     [Chai.  XVIII. 

and  Philip  Augustus  thus  recovered  possession  of  nearly  all 
the  territories  which  his  father,  Louis  VII.,  had  kept  but  for 
a  moment.  He  added,  in  succession,  other  provinces  to  his 
dominions ;  in  such  wise  that  the  kingdom  of  France,,  which 
was  limited,  as  we  have  seen,  under  Louis  the  Fat,  to  the 
Ile-de-France  and  certain  portions  of  Picardy  and  (Meanness, 
comprised  besides,  at  the  end  of  the  reign  of  Philip  Augus- 
tus, Vermandois,  Artois,  the  two  Vexins,  French  and  Nor- 
man, Berri,  Normandy,  Maine,  Anjou,  Poitou,  Touraine,  and 
Auvergne. 

In  1206  the  territorial  work  of  Philip  Augustus  was  well 
nigh  completed ;  but  his  wars  were  not  over.  John  Lack- 
land, when  worsted,  kicked  against  the  pricks,  and  was  in- 
cessantly hankering,  in  his  antagonism  to  the  King  of  France, 
after  hostile  alliances  and  local  conspiracies  easy  to  hatch 
amongst  certain  feudal  lords  discontented  with  their  suzerain. 
John  was  on  intimate  terms  with  his  nephew,  Otho  IV., 
Emperor  of  Germany  and  the  foe  of  Philip  Augustus,  who 
had  supported  against  him  Frederick  II.,  his  rival  for  the 
empire.  They  prepared  in  concert  for  a  grand  attack  upon 
the  King  of  France,  and  they  had  won  over  to  their  coalition 
some  of  his  most  important  vassals,  amongst  others,  Renaud 
de  Dampierre,  Count  of  Boulogne.  Philip  determined  to 
divert  their  attack,  whilst  anticipating  it,  by  an  unexpected 
enterprise  —  the  invasion  of  England  itself.  Circumstances 
seemed  favorable.  King  John,  by  his  oppression  and  his 
perfidy,  had  drawn  upon  him  the  hatred  and  contempt  of  his 
people  ;  and  the  barons  of  England,  supported  and  guided 
by  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  Stephen  Langton,  had 
commenced  against  him  the  struggle  which  was  to  be  ended 
some  years  afterwards  by  the  forced  concession  of  Magna 
Charta,  that  foundation-stone  of  English  liberties.  John, 
having  been  embroiled  for  five  years  past  with  the  court  of 
Rome,  affected  to  defy  the  excommunication  which  the  pope 
had  hurled   at  him,  and   of   which   the    King   of   France   had 


Chap.  XVIIL]       THE   KINGSHIP   IN   FRANCE.  79 

been  asked  by  several  prelates  of  the  English  Church  to 
insure  the  efficient  working.  On  the  8th  of  April,  1213, 
Philip  convoked,  at  Soissons,  his  principal  vassals  or  allies, 
explained  to  them  the  grounds  of  his  design  against  the  King 
of  England,  and,  by  a  sort  of  special  confederation,  they  bound 
themselves,  all  of  them,  to  support  him.  One  of  the  most 
considerable  vassals,  however,  the  sometime  regent  of  France 
during  the  minority  of  Philip,  Ferrand,  Count  of  Flanders, 
did  not  attend  the  meeting  to  which  he  had  been  summoned, 
and  declared  his  intention  of  taking  no  part  in  the  war  against 
England.  "By  all  the  saints  of  France,"  cried  Philip,  "  either 
France  shall  become  Flanders,  or  Flanders  France  !  "  And, 
all  the  while  pressing  forward  the  equipment  of  a  large  fleet 
collected  at  Calais  for  the  invasion  of  England,  he  entered 
Flanders,  besieged  and  took  several  of  the  richest  cities  in  the 
country,  Cassel,  Ypres,  Bruges,  and  Courtrai,  and  pitched  his 
camp  before  the  walls  of  Ghent,  "  to  lower,"  as  he  said,  "  the 
pride  of  the  men  of  Ghent  and  make  them  bend  their  necks 
beneath  the  yoke  of  kings."  But  he  heard  that  John  Lack- 
land, after  making  his  peace  with  the  court  of  Rome  through 
acceptance  of  all  the  conditions  and  all  the  humiliations  it  had 
thought  proper  to  impose  upon  him,  had  just  landed  at  Rochelle, 
and  was  exciting  a  serious  insurrection  amongst  the  lords  of 
Saintonge  and  Poitou.  At  the  same  time  Philip's  fleet,  having 
been  attacked  in  Calais  roads  by  that  of  John,  had  been  half 
destroyed  or  captured;  and  the  other  half  had  been  forced 
to  take  shelter  in  the  harbor  of  Damme,  where  it  was  strictly 
blockaded.  Philip,  forthwith  adopting  a  twofold  and  energetic 
resolution,  ordered  his  son  Philip  to  go  and  put  down  the 
insurrection  of  the  Poitevines  on  the  banks  of  the  Loire,  and 
himself  took  in  hand  the  war  in  Flanders,  which  was  of  the 
most  consequence,  considering  the  quality  of  the  foe  and  the 
designs  they  proclaimed.  They  had  at  their  head  the  Emperor 
Otho  IV.,  who  had  already  won  the  reputation  of  a  brave  and 
able   soldier ;   and   they   numbered   in  their   ranks   several   of 


80  POPULAR   HISTORY    OF   FRANCE.     [Chap.  XVIII. 

the  greatest  lords,  German,  Flemish,  and  Dutch,  and  Hugh 
de  Boves,  the  most  dreaded  of  those  adventurers  in  the  pay 
of  wealthy  princes  who  were  known  at  that  time  by  the  name 
of  roadsters  (routiers,  mercenaries).  They  proposed,  it  was 
said,  to  dismember  France  ;  and  a  promise  to  that  effect  had 
been  made  by  the  Emperor  Otho  to  his  principal  chieftains 
assembled  in  secret  conference.  "It  is  against  Philip  himself, 
and  him  alone,"  he  had  said  to  them,  "  that  we  must  direct 
all  our  efforts ;  it  is  he  who  must  be  slain  first  of  all,  for  it 
i.i  lie  alone  who  opposes  us  and  makes  himself  our  foe  in  every- 
thing. When  he  is  dead,  you  will  be  able  to  subdue  and  divide 
the  kingdom  according  to  our  pleasure ;  as  for  thee,  Renaud, 
thou  shalt  take  Peronne  and  all  Vermandois  ;  Hugh  shall  be 
master  of  Beauvais,  Salisbury  of  Dreux,  Conrad  of  Mantes,  to- 
gether with  Vexin,  and  as  for  thee,  Ferrand,  thou  shalt  have 
Paris." 

The  two  armies  marched  over  the  Low  Countries  and  Flan- 
ders, seeking  out  both  of  them  the  most  favorable  position  for 
commencing  the  attack.  On  Sunday,  the  27th  of  August,  121-1, 
Philip  had  halted  near  the  bridge  of  Bouvines,  not  far  from 
Lille,  and  was  resting  under  an  ash  beside  a  small  chapel  dedi- 
cated to  St.  Peter.  There  came  running  to  him  a  messenger, 
sent  by  Gudrin,  Bishop  of  Senlis,  his  confidant  in  war  as  well  as 
government,  and  brought  him  word  that  his  rear-guard,  attacked 
by  the  Emperor  Otho,  was  not  sufficient  to  resist  him.  Philip 
went  into  the  chapel,  said  a  short  prayer,  and  cried  as  he  came 
out,  "  Haste  we  forward  to  the  rescue  of  our  comrades  !  "  Then 
he  put  on  his  armor,  mounted  his  horse,  and  made  swiftly  for 
the  point  of  attack,  amidst  the  shouts  of  all  those  who  were 
about  him,  "  To  arms !  to  arms  !  " 

Both  armies  numbered  in  their  ranks  not  only  all  the  feudal 
chivalry  on  the  two  sides,  but  burgher-forces,  those  from  the 
majority  of  the  great  cities  of  Flanders  being  for  Otho,  and 
those  from  sixteen  towns  or  communes  of  France  for  Philip 
Augustus.     It  was  not,  as  we  have  seen,  the  first  time  that  the 


Chap.  XVIIL]         THE  KINGSHIP   IN   FRANCE.  81 

forces  from  the  French  rural  districts  had  taken  part  in  the  king's 
wars ;  Louis  the  Fat  had  often  received  their  aid  against  the  tyran- 
nical and  turbulent  lords  of  his  small  kingdom;  but  since  the 
reign  of  Louis  the  Fat  the  organization  and  importance  of  the  com- 
munes had  made  great  progress  in  France  ;  and  it  was  not  only 
rural  communes,  but  considerable  cities,  such  as  Amiens,  Arras, 
Beauvais,  Compiegne,  and  Soissons,  which  sent  to  the  army  of 
Philip  Augustus  bodies  of  men  in  large  numbers  and  ready 
trained  to  arms.  Contemporary  historians  put  the  army  of  Otho 
at  one  hundred  thousand,  and  that  of  Philip  Augustus  at  from 
fifty  to  sixty  thousand  men;  but  amongst  modern  historians 
one  of  the  most  eminent,  M.  Sismondi,  reduces  them  both  to 
some  fifteen  or  twenty  thousand.  One  would  say  that  the 
reduction  is  as  excessive  as  the  original  estimate.  However 
that  may  be,  the  communal  forces  evidently  filled  an  important 
place  in  the  king's  army  at  B olivines,  and  maintained  it  bril- 
liantly. So  soon  as  Philip  had  placed  himself  at  the  head  of  the 
first  line  of  his  troops,  "  the  men  of  Soissons,"  says  William  the 
Breton,  who  was  present  at  the  battle,  "  being  impatient  and 
inflamed  by  the  words  of  Bishop  Gue*rin,  let  out  their  horses  at 
the  full  speed  of  their  legs,  and  attacked  the  enemy.  But  the 
Flemish  knights  prick  not  forward  to  the  encounter,  indignant 
that  the  first  charge  against  them  was  not  made  by  knights,  as 
would  have  been  seemly,  and  remain  motionless  at  their  post. 
The  men  of  Soissons,  meanwhile,  see  no  need  of  dealing  softly 
with  them  and  humoring  them,  so  thrust  them  roughly,  upset 
them  from  their  horses,  slay  a  many  of  them,  and  force  them  to 
leave  their  place  or  defend  themselves,  willy  nilly.  At  last, 
the  Chevalier  Eustace,  scorning  the  burghers  and  proud  of  his 
illustrious  ancestors,  moves  out  into  the  middle  of  the  plain,  and 
with  haughty  voice,  roars,  "  Death  to  the  French  !  "  The  battle 
soon  became  general  and  obstinate  ;  it  was  a  multitude  of  hand- 
to-hand  fights  in  the  midst  of  a  confused  melley.  In  this  melley, 
the  knights  of  the  Emperor  Otho  did  not  forget  the  instructions 
he  had  given  them  before  the  engagement :  they  sought  out  the 

VOL.  II.  11 


82  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.      [Chap.  XVIII. 

King  of  France  himself,  to  aim  their  blows  at  him  ;  and  ere  long 
they  knew  him  by  the  presence  of  the  royal  standard,  and  made 
their  way  almost  up  to  him.  The  communes,  and  chiefly  those 
of  Corbeil,  Amiens,  Beauvais,  Compiegne,  and  Arras,  thereupon 
pierced  through  the  battalions  of  the  knights  and  placed  them- 
selves in  front  of  the  king,  when  some  German  infantry  crept 
up  round  Philip,  and  with  hooks  and  light  lances  threw  him 
down  from  his  horse  ;  but  a  small  body  of  knights  who  had 
remained  by  him  overthrew,  dispersed,  and  slew  these  infantry, 
and  the  king,  recovering  himself  more  quickly  than  had  been 
expected,  leaped  upon  another  horse,  and  dashed  again  into  the 
melley.  Then  danger  threatened  the  Emperor  Otho  in  his  turn. 
The  French  drove  back  those  about  him,  and  came  right  up  to 
him  ;  a  sword  thrust,  delivered  with  vigor,  entered  the  brain  of 
Otho's  horse ;  the  horse,  mortally  wounded,  reared  up  and 
turned  his  head  in  the  direction  whence  he  had  come  ;  and  the 
emperor,  thus  carried  away,  showed  his  back  to  the  French,  and 
was  off  in  full  flight.  "  Ye  will  see  his  face  no  more  to-day," 
said  Philip  to  his  followers  :  and  he  said  truly.  .  In  vain  did 
William  des  Barres,  the  first  knight  of  his  day  in  strength,  and 
valor,  and  renown,  dash  off  in  pursuit  of  the  emperor ;  twice  he 
was  on  the  point  of  seizing  him,  but  Otho  escaped,  thanks  to 
the  swiftness  of  his  horse  and  the  great  number  of  his  German 
knights,  who,  whilst  their  emperor  was  flying,  were  fighting  to 
a  miracle.  But  their  bravery  saved  only  their  master ;  the 
battle  of  Bouvines  was  lost  for  the  Anglo-Germano-Flemish 
coalition.  It  was  still  prolonged  for  several  hours  ;  but  in  the 
evening  it  was  over,  and  the  prisoners  of  note  were  conducted 
to  Philip  Augustus.  There  were  five  counts,  F^errand  of  Flan- 
ders, Renaud  of  Boulogne,  William  of  Salisbury,  a  natural 
brother  of  King  John,  Otho  of  Tecklemburg,  and  Conrad  of 
Dartmund ;  and  twenty-five  barons  "  bearing  their  own  stan- 
dard to  battle."  Philip  Augustus  spared  all  their  lives;  sent 
away  the  Earl  of  Salisbury  to  his  brother,  confined  the  Count  of 
Boulogne  at  Peronne,  where  he  was  subjected  "  to  very  rigor- 


Chap.  XVIII.]       THE  KINGSHIP   IN   FRANCE.  83 

ous  imprisonment,  with  chains  so  short  that  he  could  scarce 
move  one  step,"  and  as  for  the  Count  of  Flanders,  his  sometime 
regent,  Philip  dragged  him  in  chains  in  his  train. 

It  is  difficult  to  determine,  from  the  evidence  of  contempora- 
ries, which  was  the  more  rejoiced  at  and  proud  of  this  victory, 
king  or  people.  "  The  same  day,  when  evening  approached," 
says  William  the  Breton,  "  the  army  returned  laden  with  spoils 
to  the  camp ;  and  the  king,  with  a  heart  full  of  joy  and  grati- 
tude, offered  a  thousand  thanksgivings  to  the  Supreme  King, 
who  had  vouchsaved  to  him  a  triumph  over  so  many  enemies. 
And  in  order  that  posterity  might  preserve  forever  a  memorial 
of  so  great  a  success,  the  Bishop  of  Senlis  founded,  outside 
the  walls  of  that  town,  a  chapel,  which  he  named  Victory,  and 
which,  endowed  with  great  possessions  and  having  a  govern- 
ment according  to  canonical  rule,  enjoyed  the  honor  of  possess- 
ing an  abbot  and  a  holy  convent.  .  .  .  Who  can  recount, 
imagine,  or  set  down  with  a  pen,  on  parchment  or  tablets,  the 
cheers  of  joy,  the  hymns  of  triumph,  and  the  numberless  dances 
of  the  people ;  the  sweet  chants  of  the  clergy ;  the  harmonious 
sounds  of  warlike  instruments ;  the  solemn  decorations  of  the 
churches,  inside  and  out ;  the  streets,  the  houses,  the  roads  of 
all  the  castles  and  towns,  hung  with  curtains  and  tapestry  of 
silk  and  covered  with  flowers,  shrubs  and  green  branches ;  all 
the  inhabitants  of  every  sort,  sex,  and  age  running  from  every 
quarter  to  see  so  grand  a  triumph ;  peasants  and  harvesters 
breaking  off  their  work,  hanging  round  their  necks  their  sickles 
and  hoes  (for  it  was  the  season  of  harvest),  and  throwing 
themselves  in  a  throng  upon  the  roads  to  see  in  irons  that  Count 
of  Flanders,  that  Ferrand  whose  arms  they  had  formerly 
dreaded  !  " 

It  was  no  groundless  joy  on  the  part  of  the  people,  and  a 
spontaneous  instinct  gave  them  a  forecast  of  the  importance  of 
that  triumph  which  elicited  their  cheers.  The  battle  of  Bou- 
vines  was  not  the  victory  of  Philip  Augustus,  alone,  over  a 
coalition  of  foreign  princes ;  the  victory  was  the  work  of  king 


84  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.      [Chap.  XVIII. 

and  people,  barons,  knights,  burghers,  and  peasants  of  Ile-de- 
France,  of  (Meanness,  of  Picardy,  of  Normandy,  of  Champagne, 
and  of  Burgundy.  And  this  union  of  different  classes  and  dif- 
ferent populations  in  a  sentiment,  a  contest,  and  a  triumph 
shared  in  common  was  a  decisive  step  in  the  organization  and 
unity  of  France.  The  victory  of  Bouvines  marked  the  com- 
mencement of  the  time  at  which  men  might  speak,  and  indeed 
did  speak,  by  one  single  name,  of  the  French.  The  nation  in 
France  and  the  kingship  in  France  on  that  day  rose  out  of  and 
above  the  feudal  system. 

Philip  Augustus  was  about  the  same  time  apprised  of  his 
son  Louis's  success  on  the  banks  of  the  Loire.  The  incapacity 
and  swaggering  insolence  of  King  John  had  made  all  his  Poi- 
tevine  allies  disgusted  with  him ;  he  had  been  obliged  to  aban- 
don his  attack  upon  the  King  of  France  in  the  provinces,  and 
the  insurrection,  growing  daily  more  serious,  of  the  English 
barons  and  clergy  for  the  purpose  of  obtaining  Magna  Charta 
was  preparing  for  him  other  reverses.  Lie  had  ceased  to  be  a 
dangerous  rival  to  Philip. 

No  period  has  had  better  reason  than  our  own  to  know  how 
successes  and  conquests  can  intoxicate  warlike  kings  ;  but 
Philip,  whose  valor,  on  occasion,  was  second  to  none,  had  no 
actual  inclination  towards  war  or  towards  conquest  for  the  sole 
pleasure  of  extending  his  dominion.  "  Liking  better,  accord- 
ing to  his  custom,"  says  William  the  Breton,  "  to  conquer  by 
peace  than  by  war,"  he  hasted  to  put  an  end  by  treaties,  truces, 
or  contracts  to  his  quarrels  with  King  John,  the  Count  of 
Flanders,  and  the  principal  lords  made  prisoners  at  Bouvines  ; 
discretion,  in  his  case,  was  proof  against  the  temptations  of 
circumstances,  or  the  promptings  of  passion,  and  he  took  care 
not  to  overtly  compromise  his  power,  his  responsibility,  and  the 
honor  of  his  name  by  enterprises  which  did  not  naturally  come 
in  his  way,  or  which  he  considered  without  chances  of  success. 
Whilst  still  a  youth,  he  had  given,  in  1191,  a  sure  proof  of  that 
self-command   which  is   so   rare   amongst  ambitious  princes  by 


Chap.  XVIII.]       THE   KINGSHIP   IN   FRANCE.  85 

withdrawing  from  the  crusade  in  which  he  had  been  engaged 
with  Richard  Cceur  de  Lion  ;  and  it  was  still  more  apparent  in 
two  great  events  at  the  latter  end  of  his  reign — the  crusade 
against  the  Albigensians  and  his  son  Louis's  expedition  in  Eng- 
land, the  crown  of  which  had,  in  1215,  been  offered  to  him  by 
the  barons  at  war  with  King  John  in  defence  of  Magna  Charta. 
The  organization  of  the  kingdom,  the  nation,  and  the  king- 
ship in  France  was  not  the  only  great  event  and  the  only  great 
achievement  of  that  epoch.  At  the  same  time  that  this  polit- 
ical movement  was  going  on  in  the  State,  a  religious  and  intel- 
lectual ferment  was  making  head  in  the  Church  and  in  men's 
minds.  After  the  conquest  of  the  Gauls  by  the  Franks,  the 
Christian  clergy,  sole  depositaries  of  all  lights  to  lighten  their 
nge,  and  sole  possessors  of  any  idea  of  opposing  the  conquer- 
ors with  arguments  other  than  those  of  brute  force,  or  of  em- 
ploying towards  the  vanquished  any  instrument  of  subjection 
other  than  violence,  became  the  connecting  link  between  the 
nation  of  the  conquerors  and  the  nation  of  the  conquered,  and, 
in  the  name  of  one  and  the  same  divine  law,  enjoined  obedi- 
ence on  the  subjects,  and,  in  the  case  of  the  masters,  moder- 
ated the  transports  of  power.  But  in  the  course  of  this  active 
and  salutary  participation  in  the  affairs  of  the  world,  the  Chris- 
tian clergy  lost  somewhat  of  their  primitive  and  proper  char- 
acter ;  religion  in  their  hands  was  a  means  of  power  as  well  as 
of  civilization  ;  and  its  principal  members  became  rich,  and  fre- 
quently substituted  material  weapons  for  the  spiritual  authority 
which  had  originally  been  their  only  reliance.  When  they  were 
in  a  condition  to  hold  their  own  against  powerful  laymen,  they 
frequently  adopted  the  powerful  laymen's  morals  and  shared 
their  ignorance  ;  and  in  the  seventh  and  eighth  centuries  the 
barbarism  which  held  the  world  in  its  clutches  had  made  inroads 
upon  the  Church.  Charlemagne  essayed  to  resuscitate  dying 
civilization,  and  sought  amongst  the  clergy  his  chief  means  of 
success  ;  he  founded  schools,  filled  them  with  students  to  whom 
promises  of  ecclesiastical  preferments  were  held  out  as  rewards 


86  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF  FRANCE.     [Chap.  XVIII. 

of  .their  merit,  and,  in  fine,  exerted  himself  with  all  his  might 
to  restore  to  the  Christian  Church  her  dignity  and  her  influ- 
ence. When  Charlemagne  was  dead,  nearly  all  his  great 
achievements  disappeared  in  the  chaos  which  came  after  him  ; 
his  schools  alone  survived  and  preserved  certain  centres  of  intel- 
lectual activity.  When  the  feudal  system  had  become  estab- 
lished, and  had  introduced  some  rule  into  social  relations,  when 
the  fate  of  mankind  appeared  no  longer  entirely  left  to  the 
risks  of  force,  intellect  once  more  found  some  sort  of  employ- 
ment, and  once  more  assumed  some  sort  of  sway.  Active  and 
educated  minds  once  more  began  to  watch  with  some  sort  of 
independence  the  social  facts  before  their  eyes,  to  stigmatize 
vices  and  to  seek  for  remedies.  The  spectacle  afforded  by 
their  age  could  not  fail  to  strike  them.  Society,  after  having 
made  some  few  strides  away  from  physical  chaos,  seemed  in 
danger  of  falling  into  moral  chaos  ;  morals  had  sunk  far  below 
the  laws,  and  religion  was  in  deplorable  contrast  to  morals.  It 
was  not  laymen  only  who  abandoned  themselves  with  impu- 
nity to  every  excess  of  violence  and  licentiousness  ;  scandals 
were  frequent  amongst  the  clergy  themselves  ;  bishoprics  and 
other  ecclesiastical  benefices,  publicly  sold  or  left  by  will, 
passed  down  through  families  from  father  to  son,  and  from 
husband  to  wife,  and  the  possessions  of  the  Church  served  for 
dowry  to  the  daughters  of  bishops.  Absolution  was  at  a  low 
quotation  in  the  market,  and  redemption  for  sins  of  the  greatest 
enormity  cost  scarcely  the  price  of  founding  a  church  or  a 
monastery.  Horror-stricken  at  the  sight  of  such  corruption  in 
the  only  things  they  at  that  time  recognized  as  holy,  men  no 
longer  knew  where  to  find  the  rule  of  life  or  the  safeguard  of 
conscience.  But  it  is  the  peculiar  and  glorious  characteristic  of 
Christianity  that  it  is  unable  to  bear  for  long,  without  making 
an  effort  to  check  them,  the  vices  it  has  been  unable  to  prevent, 
and  that  it  always  carries  in  its  womb  the  vigorous  germ  of 
human  regeneration.  In  the  midst  of  their  irregularities,  the 
eleventh  and  twelfth  centuries   saw  the  outbreak  of   a  grand 


Chap.  XVIII.]        THE  KINGSHIP   IN  FRANCE.  87 

religious,  moral,  and  intellectual  fermentation,  and  it  was  the 
Church  herself  that  had  the  honor  and  the  power  of  taking  the 
initiative  in  the  reformation.  Under  the  influence  of  Gregory 
VII.  the  rigor  of  the  popes  began  to  declare  itself  against  the 
scandals  of  the  episcopate,  the  traffic  in  ecclesiastical  benefices, 
and  the  bad  morals  of  the  secular  clergy.  At  the  same  time, 
austere  men  exerted  themselves  to  rekindle  the  fervor  of  monas- 
tic life,  re-established  rigid  rules  in  the  cloister,  and  refilled  the 
monasteries  by  their  preaching  and  example.  St.  Robert  of 
Moleme  founded  the  order  of  Citeaux ;  St.  Norbert  that  of  Prd- 
montre  ;  St.  Bernard  detached  Clairvaux  from  Citeaux,  which 
he  considered  too  worldly ;  St.  Bruno  built  Chartreuse  ;  St. 
Hugo,  St.  Gerard,  and  others  besides  gave  the  Abbey  of  Cluni 
its  renown ;  and  ecclesiastical  reform  extended  everywhere. 
Hereupon  rich  and  powerful  laymen,  filled  with  ardor  for  their 
faith  or  fear  for  their  eternal  welfare,  went  seeking  after  soli- 
tude, and  devoted  themselves  to  prayer  in  the  monasteries  they 
had  founded  or  enriched  with  their  wealth  ;  whole  families  were 
dispersed  amongst  various  religious  houses ;  and  all  the  severi- 
ties of  penance  hardly  sufficed  to  quiet  imaginations  scared  at 
the  perils  of  living  in  the  world  or  at  the  vices  of  their  age. 
And,  at  the  same  time,  in  addition  to  this  outburst  of  piet}-, 
ignorance  was  decried  and  stigmatized  as  the  source  of  the  pre- 
vailing evils  ;  the  function  of  teaching  was  included  amongst  the 
duties  of  the  religious  estate ;  and  every  newly-founded  or 
reformed  monastery  became  a  school  in  which  pupils  of  all  con- 
ditions were  gratuitously  instructed  in  the  sciences  known  by 
the  name  of  liberal  arts.  Bold  spirits  began  to  use  the  rights  of 
individual  thought  in  opposition  to  the  authority  of  established 
doctrines ;  and  others,  without  dreaming  of  opposing,  strove  at 
any  rate  to  understand,  which  is  the  way  to  produce  discussion. 
Activity  and  freedom  of  thought  were  receiving  development  at 
the  same  time  that  fervent  faith  and  fervent  piety  were. 

This  great  moral  movement  of  humanity  in  the  eleventh  and 
twelfth  centuries  arose  from  events  very  different  in  different 


83  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.     [Chap.  XVIII. 

parts  of  the  beautiful  country  which  was  not  yet,  but  was  from 
that  time  forward  tending  to  become,  France.  Amongst  these 
events,  which  cannot  be  here  recounted  in  detail,  we  will  fix 
upon  two,  which  were  the  most  striking,  and  the  most  produc- 
tive of  important  consequences  in  the  whole  history  of  the 
epoch,  the  quarrel  of  Abelard  with  St.  Bernard  and  the  crusade 
against  the  Albigensians.  We  shall  there  see  how  Northern 
France  and  Southern  France  differed  one  from  the  other  before 
the  bloody  crisis  which  was  to  unite  them  in  one  single  name 
and  one  common  destiny. 

In  France  properly  so  called  at  that  time,  north  of  the  Rhone 
and  the  Loire,  the  church  had  herself  accomplished  the  chief! 
part  of  the  reforms  which  had  become  necessary.  It  was  there 
that  the  most  active  and  most  eloquent  of  the  reforming  monks 
had  appeared,  had  preached,  and  had  founded  or  regenerated  a 
great  number  of  monasteries.  It  was  there  that,  at  first  amongst 
the  clergy,  and  then,  through  their  example,  amongst  the  laity, 
Christian  discipline  and  morals  had  resumed  some  sway.  There, 
too,  the  Christian  faith  and  church  were,  amongst  the  mass  of 
the  population,  but  little  or  not  at  all  assailed ;  heretics,  when 
any  appeared,  obtained  support  neither  from  princes  nor  people  ; 
they  were  proceeded  against,  condemned,  and  burned,  without 
their  exciting  public  sympathy  by  their  presence,  or  public  com- 
miseration by  their  punishment.  It  was  in  the  very  midst  of 
the  clergy  themselves,  amongst  literates  and  teachers,  that,  in 
Northern  France,  the  intellectual  and  innovating  movement  of 
the  period  was  manifested  and  concentrated.  The  movement 
was  vigorous  and  earnest,  and  it  was  a  really  studious  host 
which  thronged  to  the  lessons  of  Abelard  at  Paris,  on  Mount 
St.  Genevieve,  at  Melun,  at  Corbeil,  and  at  the  Paraclete ;  but 
this  host  contained  but  few  of  the  people ;  the  greater  part  of 
those  who  formed  it  were  either  already  in  the  church,  or  soon, 
in  various  capacities,  about  to  be.  And  the  discussions  raised  at 
the  meetings  corresponded  with  the  persons  attending  them  ; 
there  was  the  disputation  of  the  schools ;  there  was  no  founding 


Chap.  XVIII.]      THE  KINGSHIP   IN  FRANCE.  89 

of  sects ;  the  lessons  of  Abelard  and  the  questions  he  handled 
were  scientifico-religious ;  it  was  to  expound  and  propagate 
what  they  regarded  as  the  philosophy  of  Christianity,  that  mas- 
ters and  pupils  made  bold  use  of  the  freedom  of  thought ;  they 
made  but  slight  war  upon  the  existing  practical  abuses  of  the 
church ;  they  differed  from  her  in  the  interpretation  and  com- 
ments contained  in  some  of  her  dogmas ;  and  they  considered 
themselves  in  a  position  to  explain  and  confirm  faith  by  reason. 
The  chiefs  of  the  church,  with  St.  Bernard  at  their  head,  were 
not  slow  to  descry,  in  these  interpretations  and  comments  based 
upon  science,  danger  to  the  simple  and  pure  faith  of  the  Chris- 
tian ;  they  saw  the  apparition  of  dawning  rationalism  confront- 
ing orthodoxy.  They  were,  as  all  their  contemporaries  were, 
wholly  strangers  to  the  bare  notion  of  freedom  of  thought  and 
conscience,  and  they  began  a  zealous  struggle  against  the  new 
teachers ;  but  they  did  not  push  it  to  the  last  cruel  extremities. 
They  had  many  a  handle  against  Abelard :  his  private  life,  the 
scandal  of  his  connection  with  Heloise,  the  restless  and  haughty 
fickleness  of  his  character,  laid  him  open  to  severe  strictures ; 
but  his  stern  adversaries  did  not  take  so  much  advantage  of 
them  as  they  might  have  taken.  They  had  his  doctrines  con- 
demned at  the  councils  of  Soissons  and  Sens ;  they  prohibited 
him  from  public  lecturing ;  and  they  imposed  upon  him  the  se- 
clusion of  the  cloister ;  but  they  did  not  even  harbor  the  notion 
of  having  him  burned  as  a  heretic,  and  science  and  glory  were 
respected  in  his  person,  even  when  his  ideas  were  proscribed. 
Peter  the  Venerable,  Abbot  of  Cluni,  one  of  the  most  highly 
considered  and  honored  prelates  of  the  church,  received  him 
amongst  his  own  monks,  and  treated  him  with  paternal  kindness, 
taking  care  of  his  health,  as  well  as  of  his  eternal  welfare ;  and 
he  who  was  the  adversary  of  St.  Bernard  and  the  teacher  con- 
demned by  the  councils  of  Soissons  and  Sens,  died  peacefully, 
on  the  21st  of  April,  1142,  in  the  abbey  of  St.  Marcellus,  near 
Chalon-sur-SaSne,  after  having  received  the  sacraments  with 
much  piety,  and  in  presence  of  all  the  brethren  of  the  monas- 
VOL.  II.  12 


90  POPULAR  HISTORY   OF  FRANCE.     [Chap.  XVIII 

tery.  "  Thus,"  wrote  Peter  the  Venerable  to  Heloise,  abbess 
for  eleven  years  past  of  the  Paraclete,  "  the  man  who,  by  his 
singular  authority  in  science,  was  known  to  nearly  all  the  world, 
and  was  illustrious  wherever  he  was  known,  learned,  in  the 
school  of  Him  who  said,  c  Know  that  I  am  meek  and  lowly  of 
heart,"*  to  remain  meek  and  loivly ;  and,  as  it  is  but  right  to  be- 
lieve, he  has  thus  returned  to  Him." 

The  struggle  of  Abelard  with  the  Church  of  Northern  France 
and  the  crusade  against  the  Albigensians  in  Southern  France  are 
divided  by  much  more  than  diversit}^  and  contrast ;  there  is  an 
abyss  between  them.  In  their  religious  condition,  and  in  the 
nature  as  well  as  degree  of  their  civilization,  the  populations  of 
the  two  regions  were  radically  different.  In  the  north-east,  be- 
tween the  Rhine,  the  Scheldt,  and  the  Loire,  Christianity  had 
been  obliged  to  deal  with  little  more  than  the  barbarism  and 
ignorance  of  the  German  conquerors.  In  the  south,  on  the  two 
banks  of  the  Rhone  and  the  Garonne,  along  the  Mediterra- 
nean, and  by  the  Pyrenees,  it  had  encountered  all  manner  of 
institutions,  traditions,  religions,  and  disbeliefs,  Greek,  Roman, 
African,  Oriental,  Pagan,  and  Mussulman;  the  frequent  inva- 
sions and  long  stay  of  the  Saracens  in  those  countries  had  min- 
gled Arab  blood  with  the  Gallic,  Roman,  Asiatic,  and  Visigothic, 
and  this  mixture  of  so  many  different  races,  tongues,  creeds,  and 
ideas  had  resulted  in  a  civilization  more  developed,  more  elegant, 
more  humane,  and  more  liberal,  but  far  less  coherent,  simple, 
and  strong,  morally  as  well  as  politically,  than  the  warlike,  feu- 
dal civilization  of  Germanic  France.  In  the  religious  order 
especially,  the  dissimilarity  was  profound.  In  Northern  France, 
in  spite  of  internal  disorder,  and  through  the  influence  of  its 
bishops,  missionaries,  and  monastic  reformers,  the  orthodox 
Church  had  obtained  a  decided  superiority  and  full  dominion ; 
but  in  Southern  France,  on  the  contrary,  all  the  controversies, 
all  the  sects,  and  all  the  mystical  or  philosophical  heresies  which 
had  disturbed  Christendom  from  the  second  century  to  the 
ninth,  had  crept  in  and  spread  abroad.     In  it  there  were  Arians, 


Chap.  XVIIL]  THE   KINGSHIP   IN   FRANCE.  91 

Manicheans,  Gnostics,  Paulicians,  Cathars  (the  pure),  and  other 
sects  of  more  local  or  more  recent  origin  and  name,  Albigen- 
sians,  Vaudians,  Good  People  and  Poor  of  Lyons,  some  piously 
possessed  with  the  desire  of  returning  to  the  pure  faith  and  fra- 
ternal organization  of  the  primitive  evangelical  Church,  others 
given  over  to  the  extravagances  of  imagination  or  asceticism. 
The  princes  and  the  great  laic  lords  of  the  country,  the  Counts 
of  Toulouse,  Foix,  and  Comminges,  the  Viscount  of  Beziers, 
and  many  others  had  not  remained  unaffected  by  this  condition 
of  the  people  :  the  majority  were  accused  of  tolerating  and  even 
protecting  the  heretics;  and  some  were  suspected  of  allowing 
their  ideas  to  penetrate  within  their  own  households.  The  bold 
sallies  of  the  critical  and  jeering  spirit,  and  the  abandonment 
of  established  creeds  and  discipline,  bring  about,  before  long,  a 
relaxation  of  morals ;  and  liberty  requires  long  time  and  many 
trials  before  it  learns  to  disavow  and  rise  superior  to  license.  In 
many  of  the  feudal  courts  and  castles  of  Languedoc,  Provence, 
and  Aquitaine,  imaginations,  words,  and  lives  were  licentious ; 
and  the  charming  poetry  of  the  troubadours  and  the  gallant 
adventures  of  knights  caused  it  to  be  too  easily  forgotten  that 
morality  was  but  little  more  regarded  than  the  faith.  Dating 
from  the  latter  half  of  the  eleventh  century,  not  only  the  popes, 
but  the  whole  orthodox  Church  of  France  and  its  spiritual 
heads,  were  seriously  disquieted  at  the  state  of  mind  of  South- 
ern France,  and  the  dangers  it  threatened  to  the  whole  of  Chris- 
tendom. In  1145  St.  Bernard,  in  all  the  lustre  of  his  name  and 
influence,  undertook,  in  concert  with  Cardinal  Albdric,  legate 
of  the  Pope  Eugenius  III.,  to  go  and  preach  against  the  heretics 
in  the  countship  of  Toulouse.  "We  see  here,"  he  wrote  to 
Alphonse  Jourdain,  Count  of  Toulouse,  "churches  without 
flocks,  flocks  without  priests,  priests  without  the  respect  which 
is  their  due,  and  Christians  without  Christ ;  men  die  in  their  sins 
without  being  reconciled  by  penance  or  admitted  to  the  holy 
communion ;  souls  are  sent  pell-mell  before  the  awful  tribunal 
of  God ;  the  grace  of  baptism  is  refused  to  little  children ;  those 


92  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.     [Chap.  XVIII. 

to  whom  the  Lord  said,  '  Suffer  little  children  to  come  unto  Me,' 
do  not  obtain  the  means  of  coming  to  salvation.  Is  it  because 
of  a  belief  that  these  little  children  have  no  need  of  the  Saviour, 
inasmuch  as  they  are  little  ?  Is  it  then  for  nought  that  our 
Lord  from  being  great  became  little  ?  What  say  I  ?  Is  it  then 
for  nought  that  He  was  scourged  and  spat  upon,  crucified  and 
dead?"  St.  Bernard  preached  with  great  success  in  Toulouse 
itself,  but  he  was  not  satisfied  with  easy  successes.  He  had 
come  to  fight  the  heretics ;  and  he  went  to  look  for  them  where 
he  was  told  he  would  find  them  numerous  and  powerful.  "  He 
repaired,"  says  a  contemporary  chronicler,  "to  the  castle  of 
Yertfeuil  (or  Verfeil,  in  the  district  of  Toulouse),  where  flour- 
ished at  that  time  the  scions  of  a  numerous  nobility  and  of  a 
multitude  of  people,  thinking  that,  if  he  could  extinguish  heret- 
ical perversity  in  this  place  where  it  was  so  very  much  spread, 
it  would  be  easy  for  him  to  make  head  against  it  elsewhere. 
When  lie  had  begun  preaching,  in  the  church,  against  those  who 
were  of  most  consideration  in  the  place,  they  went  out,  and  the 
people  followed  them ;  but  the  holy  man,  going  out  after  them, 
gave  utterance  to  the  word  of  God  in  the  public  streets.  The 
nobles  then  hid  themselves  on  all  sides  in  their  houses ;  and  as 
for  him,  he  continued  to  preach  to  the  common  people  who  came 
about  him.  Whereupon,  the  others  making  uproar  and  knock- 
ing upon  the  doors,  so  that  the  crowd  could  not  hear  his  voice, 
he  then,  having  shaken  off  the  dust  from  his  feet  as  a  testimony 
against  them,  departed  from  their  midst,  and,  looking  on  the 
town,  cursed  it,  saying,  4  Vertfeuil,  God  wither  thee ! '  Now 
there  were,  at  that  time,  in  the  castle,  a  hundred  knights  abid- 
ing, having  arms,  banners,  and  horses,  and  keeping  themselves 
at  their  own  expense,  not  at  the  expense  of  other." 

After  the  not  very  effectual  mission  of  St.  Bernard,  who  died 
in  1153,  and  for  half  a  century,  the  orthodox  Church  was  sev- 
eral times  occupied  with  the  heretics  of  Southern  France,  who 
were  before  long  called  Albigensians,  either  because  they  were 
numerous  in  the  diocese  of  Albi,  or  because  the  council  of  Lorn- 


Chap.  XVIII.]       THE   KINGSHIP   IN   FRANCE.  93 

bers,  one  of  the  first  at  which  their  condemnation  was  expressly 
pronounced  (in  1165),  was  held  in  that  diocese.  But  the  meas- 
ures adopted  at  that  time  against  them  were  at  first  feebly  exe- 
cuted, and  had  but  little  effect.  The  new  ideas  spread  more 
and  more ;  and  in  1167  the  innovators  themselves  held,  at  St. 
Felix-de-Caraman,  a  petty  council,  at  which  they  appointed 
bishops  for  districts  where  they  had  numerous  partisans.  Ray- 
mond VI.,  who,  in  1195,  succeeded  his  father,  Raymond  V.,  as 
Count  of  Toulouse,  was  supposed  to  be  favorably  disposed 
towards  them ;  he  admitted  them  to  intimacy  with  him,  and,  it 
was  said,  allowed  himself,  in  respect  of  the  orthodox  Church, 
great  liberty  of  thought  and  speech.  Meanwhile  the  great  days 
and  the  chief  actors  in  the  struggle  commenced  by  St.  Bernard 
were  approaching.  In  1198,  Lothaire  Conti,  a  pupil  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  Paris,  was  elected  pope,  with  the  title  of  Innocent  III. ; 
and,  four  or  five  years  later,  Simon,  Count  of  Montfort- 
rAmaury,  came  back  from  the  fifth  crusade  in  the  East,  with  a 
celebrity  already  established  by  his  valor  and  his  zeal  against 
the  infidels.  Innocent  III.,  no  unworthy  rival  of  Gregory  VII., 
his  late  predecessor  in  the  Holy  See,  had  the  same  grandeur  of 
ideas  and  the  same  fixity  of  purpose,  with  less  headiness  in 
his  character,  and  more  knowledge  of  the  world,  and  more  of 
the  spirit  of  policy.  He  looked  upon  the  whole  of  Christendom 
as  his  kingdom,  and  upon  himself  as  the  king  whose  business  it 
was  to  make  prevalent  everywhere  the  law  of  God.  Simon,  as 
Count  of  Montfort-l'Amaury,  was  not  a  powerful  lord ;  but  he 
was  descended,  it  was  said,  from  a  natural  son  of  King  Robert ; 
his  mother,  who  was  English,  had  left  him  heir  to  the  earldom 
of  Leicester,  and  he  had  for  his  wife  Alice  de  Montmorency. 
His  social  status  and  his  personal  renown,  superior  as  they  were 
to  his  worldly  fortunes,  authorized  in  his  case  any  flight  of  am- 
bition ;  and  in  the  East  he  had  learned  to  believe  that  anything 
was  allowed  to  him  in  the  service  of  the  Christian  faith.  Inno- 
cent IIL,  on  receiving  the  tiara,  set  to  work  at  once  upon  the 
government  of  Christendom.     Simon  de  Montfort,  on  returning 


94  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.      [Chap.  XVIII. 

from  Palestine,  did  not  dream  of  the  new  crusade  to  which 
he  was  soon  to  be  summoned,  and  for  which  he  was  so  well 
prepared. 

Innocent  III.  at  first  employed  against  the  heretics  of  South- 
ern France  only  spiritual  and  legitimate  weapons.  Before  pro- 
scribing, he  tried  to  convert  them  ;  he  sent  to  them  a  great 
number  of  missionaries,  nearly  all  taken  from  the  order  of 
Citeaux,  and  of  proved  zeal  already ;  many  amongst  them 
had  successively  the  title  and  power  of  legates ;  and  they  went 
preaching  throughout  the  whole  country,  communicating  with 
the  princes  and  laic  lords,  whom  they  requested  to  drive  away 
the  heretics  from  their  domains,  and  holding  with  the  heretics 
themselves  conferences  which  frequently  drew  a  numerous  at- 
tendance. A  knight  "  full  of  sagacity,"  according  to  a  contem- 
porary chronicler,  "  Pons  d'Adhemar,  of  Rodelle,  said  one  day 
to  Foulques,  Bishop  of  Toulouse,  one  of  the  most  zealous  of  the 
pope's  delegates,  c  We  could  not  have  believed  that  Rome  had 
so  many  powerful  arguments  against  these  folk  here.'  '  See 
you  not,'  said  the  bishop,  'how  little  force  there  is  in  their 
objections  ?  '  '  Certainly,'  answered  the  knight.  '  Why,  then, 
do  you  not  expel  them  from  your  lands  ? '  '  We  cannot,' 
answered  Pons ;  4  we  have  been  brought  up  with  them  ;  we 
have  amongst  them  folk  near  and  dear  to  us,  and  we  see  them 
living  honestly.'  "  Some  of  the  legates,  wearied  at  the  little 
effect  of  their  preaching,  showed  an  inclination  to  give  up  their 
mission.  Peter  de  Castelnau  himself,  the  most  zealous  of  all,  and 
destined  before  long  to  pay  for  his  zeal  with  his  life,  wrote  to 
the  pope  to  beg  for  permission  to  return  to  his  monastery.  Two 
Spanish  priests,  Diego  Azebes,  Bishop  of  Osma,  and  his  sub- 
prior  Dominic,  falling  in  with  the  Roman  legates  at  Montpellier, 
heard  them  express  their  disgust.  "  Give  up,"  said  they  to  the 
legates,  "  your  retinue,  your  horses,  and  your  goings  in  state  ; 
proceed  in  all  humility,  afoot  and  barefoot,  without  gold  or 
silver,  living  and  teaching  after  the  example  of  the  Divine 
Master."     "  We  dare  not  take  on  ourselves  such  things,"   an- 


Chap.  XVIII.]       THE  KINGSHIP   IN   FRANCE.  95 

swered  the  pope's  agents  ;  "  they  would  seem  a  sort  of  innova- 
tion ;  but  if  some  person  of  sufficient  authority  consent  to 
precede  us  in  such  guise,  we  would  follow  him  readily."  The 
Bishop  of  Osma  sent  away  his  retinue  to  Spain,  and  kept  with 
him  only  his  companion  Dominic  ;  and  they,  taking  with  them 
two  of  the  monks  of  Citeaux,  Peter  de  Castelnau  and  Raoul,  — 
the  most  fervent  of  the  delegates  from  Rome,  —  began  that 
course  of  austerity  and  of  preaching  amongst  the  people  which 
was  ultimately  to  make  of  the  sub-prior  Dominic  a  saint  and 
the  founder  of  a  great  religious  order,  to  which  has  often,  but 
wrongly,  been  attributed  the  origin,  though  it  certainly  became 
the  principal  agent,  of  the  Inquisition.  Whilst  joining  in  hum- 
ble and  pious  energy  with  the  two  Spanish  priests,  the  two 
monks  of  Citeaux,  and  Peter  de  Castelnau  especially,  did  not 
cease  to  urge  amongst  the  laic  princes  the  extirpation  of  the 
heretics.  In  1205  they  repaired  to  Toulouse  to  demand  of  Ray- 
mond VI.  a  formal  promise,  which  indeed  they  obtained ;  but 
Raymond  was  one  of  those  undecided  and  feeble  characters  who 
dare  not  refuse  to  promise  what  they  dare  not  attempt  to  do. 
He  wished  to  live  in  peace  with  the  orthodox  Church  without 
behaving  cruelly  to  a  large  number  of  his  subjects.  The  fanati- 
cal legate,  Peter  de  Castelnau,  enraged  at  his  tergiversation, 
instantly  excommunicated  him ;  and  the  pope  sent  the  count  a 
threatening  letter,  giving  him  therein  to  understand  that  in  case 
of  need  stronger  measures  would  be  adopted  against  him.  Ray- 
mond, affrighted,  prevailed  on  the  two  legates  to  repair  to  St. 
Gilles,  and  he  there  renewed  his  promises  to  them ;  but  he 
always  sought  for  and  found  on  the  morrow  some  excuse  for 
retarding  the  execution  of  them.  The  legates,  after  having 
reproached  him  vehemently,  determined  to  leave  St.  Gilles  with- 
out further  delay,  and  the  day  after  their  departure  (January 
loth,  1208),  as  they  were  getting  ready  to  cross  the  Rhfoie,  two 
strangers,  who  had  lodged  the  night  before  in  the  same  hostelry 
with  them,  drew  near,  and  one  of  the  two  gave  Peter  de  Cas- 
telnau a  lance-thrust  with  such  force,  that  the   legate,  after 


96  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.     [Chap.  XVIII. 

exclaiming,  "  God  forgive  thee,  as  I  do !  "  had  only  time  to  give 
his  comrade  his  last  instructions,  and  then  expired. 

Great  was  the  emotion  in  France  and  at  Rome.  It  was 
barely  thirty  years  since  in  England,  after  an  outburst  of  pas- 
sion on  the  part  of  King  Henry  II.,  four  knights  of  his  court 
had  murdered  the  Archbishop  Thomas-a-Becket  in  Canterbury 
Cathedral.  Was  the  Count  of  Toulouse,  too,  guilty  of  having 
instigated  the  shedding  of  blood  and  the  murder  of  a  prelate  ? 
Such  was,  in  the  thirteenth  century,  the  general  cry  throughout 
the  Catholic  Church  and  the  signal  for  war  against  Raymond 
VI. ;  a  war  undertaken  on  the  plea  of  a  personal  crime,  but  in 
reality  for  the  extirpation  of  heresy  in  Southern  France,  and  for 
the  dispossession  of  the  native  princes,  who  would  not  fully 
obey  the  decrees  of  the  papacy,  in  favor  of  foreign  conquerors 
who  would  put  them  into  execution.  The  crusade  against  the 
Albigensians  was  the  most  striking  application  of  two  principles 
equally  false  and  fatal,  which  did  more  than  as  much  evil  to  the 
Catholics  as  to  the  heretics,  and  to  the  papacy  as  to  freedom ; 
and  they  are,  the  right  of  the  spiritual  power  to  claim  for  the 
coercion  of  souls  the  material  force  of  the  temporal  powers,  and 
its  right  to  strip  temporal  sovereigns,  in  case  they  set  at  nought 
its  injunctions,  of  their  title  to  the  obedience  of  their  people  ; 
in  other  words,  denial  of  religious  liberty  to  conscience  and  of 
political  independence  to  states.  It  was  by  virtue  of  these  two 
principles,  at  that  time  dominant,  but  not  without  some  opposi- 
tion, in  Christendom,  that  Innocent  III.,  in  1208,  summoned  the 
King  of  France,  the  great  lords  and  the  knights,  and  the  clergy, 
secular  and  regular,  of  the  kingdom  to  assume  the  cross  and 
go  forth  to  extirpate  from  Southern  France  the  Albigensians, 
"  worse  than  the  Saracens  ; "  and  that  he  promised  to  the  chiefs 
of  the  crusaders  the  sovereignty  of  such  domains  as  they  should 
win  by  conquest  from  the  princes  who  were  heretics  or  protect- 
ors of  heretics. 

Throughout  all  France,  and  even  outside  of  France,  the  pas- 
sions of  religion  and  ambition  were  aroused  at  this  summons. 


Chap.  XVIII.]       THE  KINGSHIP   IN   FRANCE.  97 

Twelve  abbots  and  twenty  monks  of  Citeaux  dispersed  them- 
selves in  all  directions  preaching  the  crusade  ;  and  lords  and 
knights,  burghers  and  peasants,  laymen  and  clergy,  hastened  to 
respond.  "  From  near  and  far  they  came/'  says  the  contempo- 
rary poet-chronicler,  William  of  Tudela ;  "  there  be  men  from 
Auvergne  and  Burgundy,  France  and  Limousin  ;  there  be  men 
from  all  the  world ;  there  be  Germans,  Poitevines,  Gascons, 
Rouergats,  and  Saintongese.  Never  did  God  make  scribe  who, 
whatsoever  his  pains,  could  set  them  all  down  in  writing,  in 
two  months  or  in  three."  The  poet  reckons  "twenty  thousand 
horsemen  armed  at  all  points,  and  more  than  two  hundred 
thousand  villeins  and  peasants,  not  to  speak  of  burghers  and 
clergy."  A  less  exaggerative  though  more  fanatical  writer, 
Peter  of  Vaulx-Cernay,  the  chief  contemporary  chronicler  of 
this  crusade,  contents  himself  with  saying  that,  at  the  siege  of 
Carcassonne,  one  of  the  first  operations  of  the  crusaders,  "  it 
was  said  that  their  army  numbered  fifty  thousand  men."  What- 
ever may  be  the  truth  about  the  numbers,  the  crusaders  were 
passionately  ardent  and  persevering :  the  war  against  the  Albi- 
gensians  lasted  fifteen  years  (from  1208  to  1223),  and  of  the  two 
leading  spirits,  one  ordering  and  the  other  executing,  Pope  In- 
nocent III.  and  Simon  de  Montfort,  neither  saw  the  end  of  it. 
During  these  fifteen  years,  in  the  region  situated  between  the 
Rhone,  the  Pyrenees,  the  Garonne,  and  even  the  Dordogne, 
nearly  all  the  towns  and  strong  castles,  Be*ziers,  Carcassonne, 
Castelnaudary,  Lavaur,  Gaillac,  Moissac,  Minerve,  Termes,  Tou- 
louse, &c,  were  taken,  lost,  retaken,  given  over  to  pillage,  sack, 
and  massacre,  and  burnt  by  the  crusaders  with  all  the  cruelty 
of  fanatics  and  all  the  greed  of  conquerors.  We  do  not  care  to 
dwell  here  in  detail  upon  this  tragical  and  monotonous  history ; 
we  will  simply  recall  some  few  of  its  characteristics.  Doubt 
has  been  thrown  upon  the  answer  attributed  to  Arnauld-Amau- 
ry,  Abbot  of  Citeaux,  when  he  was  asked,  in  1209,  by  the  con- 
querors of  Beziers,  how,  at  the  assault  of  the  city,  they  should 
distinguish  the  heretics  from  the  faithful :  "  Slay  them  all ;  God 
VOL.  II.  13 


98  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.     [Chap.  XVIII. 

will  be  sure  to  know  His  own."  The  doubt  is  more  charitable 
than  reasonable;  for  it  is  a  contemporary,  himself  a  monk  of 
Citeaux,  who  reports,  without  any  comment,  this  hateful  speech. 
Simon  de  Montfort,  the  hero  of  the  crusade,  employed  similar 
language.  One  day  two  heretics,  taken  at  Castres,  were  brought 
before  him ;  one  of  them  was  unshakable  in  his  belief,  the  other 
expressed  a  readiness  to  turn  convert :  "  Burn  them  both," 
said  the  count ;  "  if  this  fellow  mean  what  he  says,  the  fire  will 
serve  for  expiation  of  his  sins,  and,  if  he  lie,  he  will  suffer  the 
penalty  for  his  imposture."  At  the  siege  of  the  castle  of  La- 
vaur,  in  1211,  Amaury,  Lord  of  Montreal,  and  eighty  knights, 
had  been  made  prisoners :  and  "  the  noble  Count  Simon,"  says 
Peter  of  Vaulx-Cernay,  "  decided  to  hang  them  all  on  one 
gibbet ;  but  when  Amaury,  the  most  distinguished  amongst 
them,  had  been  hanged,  the  gallows-poles,  which,  from  too  great 
haste,  had  not  been  firmly  fixed  in  the  ground,  having  come 
down,  the  count,  perceiving  how  great  was  the  delay,  ordered 
the  rest  to  be  slain.  The  pilgrims  therefore  fell  upon  them  right 
eagerly  and  slew  them  on  the  spot.  Further,  the  count  caused 
stones  to  be  heaped  upon  the  lady  of  the  castle,  Amaury' s  sister, 
a  very  wicked  heretic,  who  had  been  cast  into  a  well.  Finally 
our  crusaders,  with  extreme  alacrity,  burned  heretics  without 
number." 

In  the  midst  of  these  atrocious  unbridlements  of  passions  sup- 
posed to  be  religious,  other  passions  were  not  slow  to  make 
their  appearance.  Innocent  III.  had  promised  the  crusaders  the 
sovereignty  of  the  domains  they  might  win  by  conquest  from 
princes  who  were  heretics  or  protectors  of  heretics.  After  the 
capture,  in  1209,  of  Beziers  and  Carcassonne,  possessions  of 
Raymond  Roger,  Viscount  of  Albi,  and  nephew  of  the  Count  of 
Toulouse,  the  Abbot  of  Citeaux,  a  legate  of  the  pope,  assem- 
bled the  principal  chiefs  of  the  crusaders  that  they  might  choose 
one  amongst  them  as  lord  and  governor  of  their  conquests.  The 
offer  was  made,  successively,  to  Eudes,  Duke  of  Burgundy,  to 
Peter  de  Courtenay,  Count  of  Nevers,  and  to  Walter  de  Chatil- 


Chap.  XVIII.]         THE   KINGSHIP   IN   FRANCE.  99 

Ion,  Count  of  St.  Paul ;  but  they  all  three  declined,  saying  that 
they  had  sufficient  domains  of  their  own  without  usurping  those 
of  the  Viscount  of  Beziers,  to  whom,  in  their  opinion,  they  had 
already  caused  enough  loss.  The  legate,  somewhat  embarrassed, 
it  is  said,  proposed  to  appoint  two  bishops  and  four  knights,  who, 
in  concert  with  him,  should  choose  a  neAV  master  for  the  con- 
quered territories.  The  proposal  was  agreed  to,  and,  after  some 
moments  of  hesitation,  Simon  de  Montfort,  being  elected  by  this 
committee,  accepted  the  proffered  domains,  and  took  immediate 
possession  of  them  on  publication  of  a  charter  conceived  as  fol- 
lows :  "  Simon,  Lord  of  Montfort,  Earl  of  Leicester,  Viscount 
of  Beziers  and  Carcassonne.  The  Lord  having  delivered  into 
my  hands  the  lands  of  the  heretics,  an  unbelieving  people,  that 
is  to  say,  whatsoever  He  hath  thought  fit  to  take  from  them  by 
the  hand  of  the  crusaders,  His  servants,  I  have  accepted  hum- 
bly and  devoutly  this  charge  and  administration,  with  confidence 
in  His  aid."  The  pope  wrote  to  him  forthwith  to  confirm  him 
in  hereditary  possession  of  his  new  dominions,  at  the  same  time 
expressing  to  him  a  hope  that,  in  concert  with  the  legates,  he 
would  continue  to  carry  out  the  extirpation  of  the  heretics. 
The  dispossessed  Viscount,  Raymond  Roger,  having  been  put 
in  prison  by  his  conqueror  in  a  tower  of  Carcassonne  itself,  died 
there  at  the  end  of  three  months,  of  disease  according  to  some, 
and  a  violent  death  according  to  others ;  but  the  latter  appears 
to  be  a  groundless  suspicion,  for  it  was  not  to  cowardly  and 
secret  crimes  that  Simon  de  Montfort  was  inclined. 

From  this  time  forth  the  war  in  Southern  France  changed 
character,  or,  rather,  it  assumed  a  double  character  ;  with  the 
war  of  religion  was  openly  joined  a  war  of  conquest ;  it  was  no 
longer  merely  against  the  Albigensians  and  their  heresies,  it  was 
against  the  native  princes  of  Southern  France  and  their  domains 
that  the  crusade  was  prosecuted.  Simon  de  Montfort  was  emi- 
nently qualified  to  direct  and  accomplish  this  twofold  design : 
sincerely  fanatical  and  passionately  ambitious  ;  of  a  valor  that 
knew  no  fatigue  ;  handsome  and  strong ;  combining  tact  with 


100  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.     [Chap.  XVIII. 

authority ;  pitiless  towards  his  enemies  as  became  his  mission 
of  doing  justice  in  the  name  of  the  faith  and  the  Church  ;  a 
leader  faithful  to  his  friends  and  devoted  to  their  common  cause 
whilst  reckoning  upon  them  for  his  own  private  purposes,  he 
possessed  those  natural  qualities  which  confer  spontaneous 
empire  over  men  and  those  abilities  which  lure  them  on  by 
opening  a  way  for  the  fulfilment  of  their  interested  hopes. 
And  as  for  himself,  by  the  stealthy  growth  of  selfishness,  which 
is  so  prone  to  become  developed  when  circumstances  are  tempt- 
ing, he  every  day  made  his  personal  fortunes  of  greater  and 
greater  account  in  his  views  and  his  conduct.  His  ambitious 
appetite  grew  by  the  very  difficulties  it  encountered  as  well  as 
by  the  successes  it  fed  upon.  The  Count  of  Toulouse,  perse- 
cuted, and  despoiled,  complained  loudly  in  the  ears  of  the  pope  ; 
protested  against  the  charge  of  favoring  the  heretics ;  offered 
and  actually  made  the  concessions  demanded  by  Rome  ;  and, 
as  security,  gave  up  seven  of  his  principal  strongholds.  But, 
being  ever  too  irresolute  and  too  weak  to  keep  his  engage- 
ments to  his  subjects'  detriment  no  less  than  to  stand  out 
against  his  adversaries'  requirements,  he  was  continually  fall- 
ing back  into  the  same  condition,  and  keeping  off  attacks  which 
were  more  and  more  urgent  by  promises  which  always  remained 
without  effect.  After  having  sent  to  Rome  embassy  upon 
embassy  with  explanations  and  excuses,  he  twice  went  thither 
himself,  in  1210  and  in  1215 ;  the  first  time  alone,  the  second 
with  his  young  son,  who  was  then  thirteen,  and  who  was  at 
a  later  period  Raymond  VII.  He  appealed  to  the  pope's  sense 
of  justice ;  he  repudiated  the  stories  and  depicted  the  violence 
of  his  enemies ;  and  finally  pleaded  the  rights  of  his  son, 
innocent  of  all  that  was  imputed  to  himself,  and  yet  similarly 
attacked  and  despoiled.  Innocent  III.  had  neither  a  narrow 
mind  nor  an  unfeeling  heart ;  he  listened  to  the  father's  plead- 
ing, took  an  interest  in  the  youth,  and  wrote,  in  April,  1212, 
and  January,  1213,  to  his  legates  in  Languedoc  and  to  Simon 
de  Montfort,  "  After  having  led  the  army  of  the  crusaders  into 


.Chap.  XVIIL]        THE  KINGSHIP   IN   FRANCE.  101 

the  domains  of  the  Count  of  Toulouse,  ye  have  not  been 
content  with  invading  all  the  places  wherein  there  were 
heretics,  but  ye  have  further  gotten  possession  of  those  where- 
in there  was  no  suspicion  of  heresy.  .  .  .  The  same  ambassa- 
dors have  objected  to  us  that  ye  have  usurped  what  was 
another's  with  so  much  greed  and  so  little  consideration:  ^hat. 
of  all  the  domains  of  the  Count  of  Toulouse  there,  remains  to* 
him  barely  the  town  of  that  name,  together  with  tile  J  castle 
of  Montauban.  .  .  .  Now,  though  the  said  count  has  been 
found  guilty  of  many  matters  against  God  and  against  the 
Church,  and  our  legates,  in  order  to  force  him  to  acknowledg- 
ment thereof,  have  excommunicated  his  person,  and  have  left 
his  domains  to  the  first  captor,  nevertheless,  he  has  not  yet 
been  condemned  as  a  heretic  nor  as  an  accomplice  in  the  death 
of  Peter  de  Castelnau,  of  sacred  memory,  albeit  he  is  strongly 
suspected  thereof.  That  is  why  we  did  ordain  that,  if  there 
should  appear  against  him  a  proper  accuser,  within  a  certain 
time,  there  should  be  appointed  him  a  day  for  clearing  him- 
self, according  to  the  form  pointed  out  in  our  letters,  reserving 
to  ourselves  the  delivery  of  a  definitive  sentence  thereupon : 
in  all  which  the  procedure  hath  not  been  according  to  our 
orders.  We  wot  not,  therefore,  on  what  ground  we  could  yet 
grant  to  others  his  dominions  which  have  not  been  taken  away 
either  from  him  or  from  his  heirs  ;  and,  above  all,  we  would  not 
appear  to  have  fraudulently  extorted  from  him  the  castles  he 
hath  committed  to  us,  the  will  of  the  Apostle  being  that  we 
should  refrain  from  even  the  appearance  of  wrong." 

But  Innocent  III.  forgot  that,  in  the  case  of  either  temporal 
or  spiritual  sovereigns,  when  there  has  once  been  an  appeal 
to  force,  there  is  no  stopping,  at  pleasure  and  within  specified 
limits,  the  movement  that  has  been  set  going  and  the  agents 
which  have  the  work  in  hand.  He  had  decreed  war  against  the 
princes  who  were  heretics  or  protectors  of  heretics ;  and  he 
had  promised  their  domains  to  their  conquerors.  He  meant  to 
reserve  to  himself  the  right  of  pronouncing  definitive  judgment 


102  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.     [Chap.  XVIII. 

as  to  the  condemnation  of  princes  as  heretics,  and  as  to  dispos- 
sessing them  of  their  dominions ;  but  when  force  had  done  its 
business  on  the  very  spot,  when  the  condemnation  of  the 
princes  as  heretics  had  been  pronounced  by  the  pope's  legates 
and  their  bodily  dispossession  effected  by  his  laic  allies,  the 
.'reserved  and  regrets  of  Innocent  III.  were  vain.  He  had  pro- 
,  claimed  two  principles  —  the  bodily  extirpation  of  the  heretics 
and  l  the  political  dethronement  of  the  princes  who  were  their 
accomplices  or  protectors  ;  but  the  application  of  the  principles 
slipped  out  of  his  own  hands.  Three  local  councils  assembled 
in  1210,  1212,  and  1218,  at  St.  Gilles,  at  Aries,  and  at  Lavaur, 
and  presided  over  by  the  pope's  legates,  proclaimed  the  excom- 
munication of  Raymond  VI.,  and  the  cession  of  his  dominions 
to  Simon  de  Montfort,  who  took  possession  of  them  for  him- 
self and  his  comrades.  Nor  were  the  pope's  legates  without 
their  share  in  the  conquest ;  Arnauld  Amaury,  Abbot  of  Citeaux, 
became  Archbishop  of  Narbonne  ;  and  Abbot  Foulques  of  Mar- 
seilles, celebrated  in  his  youth  as  a  gallant  troubadour,  was 
Bishop  of  Toulouse  and  the  most  ardent  of  the  crusaders. 
When  these  conquerors  heard  that  the  pope  had  given  a  kind 
reception  to  Raymond  VI.  and  his  young  son,  and  lent  a  favora- 
ble ear  to  their  complaints,  they  sent  haughty  warnings  to 
Innocent  III.,  giving  him  to  understand  that  the  work  was  all 
over,  and  that,  if  he  meddled,  Simon  de  Montfort  and  his 
warriors  might  probably  not  bow  to  his  decisions.  Don  Pedro 
II.,  king  of  Aragon,  had  strongly  supported  before  Innocent 
III.  the  claims  of  the  Count  of  Toulouse  and  of  the  southern 
princes  his  allies.  "  He  cajoled  the  lord  pope,"  says  the 
prejudiced  chronicler  of  these  events,  the  monk  Peter  of  Vaulx- 
Cernay,  "  so  far  as  to  persuade  him  that  the  cause  of  the  faith 
was  achieved  against  the  heretics,  they  being  put  to  distant 
flight  and  completely  driven  from  the  Albigensian  country, 
and  that  accordingly  it  was  necessary  for  him  to  revoke 
altogether  the  indulgence  he  had  granted  to  the  crusaders.  .  .  . 
The   sovereign  pontiff,   too   credulously  listening   to   the   per- 


Chap.  XVIIL]       THE   KINGSHIP   IN  FRANCE.  103 

fidions  suggestions  of  the  said  king,  readily  assented  to  his 
demands,  and  wrote  to  the  Count  of  Montfort,  with  orders 
and  commands  to  restore  without  delay  to  the  Counts  of  Com- 
minges  and  of  Foix,  and  to  Gaston  of  Beam,  very  wicked  and 
abandoned  people,  the  lands  which,  by  just  judgment  of  God 
and  by  the  aid  of  the  crusaders,  he  at  last  had  conquered." 
But,  in  spite  of  his  desire  to  do  justice,  Innocent  III.,  studying 
policy  rather  than  moderation,  did  not  care  to  enter  upon  a 
struggle  against  the  agents,  ecclesiastical  and  laic,  whom  he 
had  let  loose  upon  Southern  France.  In  November,  1215,  the 
fourth  Lateran  council  met  at  Rome ;  and  the  Count  of  Tou- 
louse, his  son,  and  the  Count  of  Foix  brought  their  claims 
before  it.  "  It  is  quite  true,"  says  Peter  of  Vaulx-Cernay, 
"that  they  found  there — and,  what  is  worse,  amongst  the 
prelates  —  certain  folk  who  opposed  the  cause  of  the  faith, 
and  labored  for  the  restoration  of  the  said  counts ;  but  the 
counsel  of  Ahitophel  did  not  prevail,  for  the  lord  pope,  in 
agreement  with  the  greater  and  saner  part  of  the  council, 
decreed  that  the  city  of  Toulouse  and  other  territories  con- 
quered by  the  crusaders  should  be  ceded  to  the  Count  of  Mont- 
fort, who,  more  than  any  other,  had  borne  himself  right  valiant- 
ly and  loyally  in  the  holy  enterprise ;  and,  as  for  the  domains 
which  Count  Raymond  possessed  in  Provence,  the  sovereign 
pontiff  decided  that  they  should  be  reserved  to  him,  in  order 
to  make  provision,  either  with  part  or  even  the  whole,  for  the 
son  of  this  count,  provided  always  that,  by  sure  signs  of 
fealty  and  good  behavior,  he  should  show  himself  worthy  of 
compassion." 

This  last  inclination  towards  compassion  on  the  part  of  the 
pope  in  favor  of  the  young  Count  Raymond,  "provided  he 
showed  himself  worthy  of  it,"  remained  as  fruitless  as  the 
remonstrances  addressed  to  his  legates ;  for  on  the  17th  of 
July,  1216,  seven  months  after  the  Lateran  council,  Innocent 
III.  died,  leaving  Simon  de  Montfort  and  his  comrades  in 
possession   of   all   they  had  takdn,   and   the   war   still  raging 


104  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF  FRANCE.     [Chap.  XVIII. 

between  the  native  princes  of  Southern  France  and  the  foreign 
conquerors.  The  primitive,  religious  character  of  the  crusade 
wore  off  more  and  more ;  worldly  ambition  and  the  spirit 
of  conquest  became  more  and  more  predominant;  and  the 
question  lay  far  less  between  catholics  and  heretics  than  be- 
tween the  old  and  new  masters  of  the  country,  between  the 
independence  of  the  southern  people  and  the  triumph  of 
warriors  come  from  the  north  of  France,  that  is  to  say,  be- 
tween two  different  races,  civilizations,  and  languages.  Ray- 
mond VI.  and  his  son  recovered  thenceforth  certain  supports 
and  opportunities  of  which  hitherto  the  accusation  of  heresy 
and  the  judgments  of  the  court  of  Rome  had  robbed  them ; 
their  neighboring  allies  and  their  secret  or  intimidated  partisans 
took  fresh  courage ;  the  fortune  of  battle  became  shifty ;  suc- 
cesses and  reverses  were  shared  by  both  sides  ;  and  not  only 
many  small  places  and  castles,  but  the  largest  towns,  Toulouse 
amongst  others,  fell  into  the  hands  of  each  party  alternately. 
Innocent  III.'s  successor  in  the  Holy  See,  Pope  Honorius  III., 
though  at  first  very  pronounced  in  his  opposition  to  the 
Albigensians,  had  less  ability,  less  perseverance,  and  less  in- 
fluence than  his  predecessor.  Finally,  on  the  20th  of  June, 
1218,  Simon  de  Montfort,  who  had  been  for  nine  months  un- 
successfully besieging  Toulouse,  which  had  again  come  into 
the  possession  of  Raymond  VI.,  was  killed  by  a  shower  of 
stones,  under  the  walls  of  the  place,  and  left  to  his  son  Amaury 
the  inheritance  of  his  war  and  his  conquests,  but  not  of  his 
vigorous  genius  and  his  warlike  renown.  The  struggle  still 
dragged  on  for  five  years  with  varied  fortune  on  each  side, 
but  Amaury  de  Montfort  was  losing  ground  every  day,  and 
Raymond  VI.,  when  he  died  in  August,  1222,  had  recovered 
the  greater  part  of  his  dominions.  His  son,  Raymond  VII., 
continued  the  war  for  eighteen  months  longer,  with  enough 
of  popular  favor  and  of  success  to  make  his  enemies  despair 
of  recovering  their  advantages  ;  and,  on  the  14th  of  January, 
1224,  Amaury  de   Montfort,  after  having   concluded  with  the 


DEATH   OF  DE   MONTFORT.  —  Page  104. 


c" 


Chap.  XVIII.]       THE   KINGSHIP   IN   FRANCE.  105 

Counts  of  Toulouse  and  Foix  a  treaty  which  seemed  to  have 
only  a  provisional  character,  "  went  forth,"  says  the  History  of 
Languedoc,  "  with  all  the  French  from  Carcassonne,  and  left 
forever  the  country  which  his  house  had  possessed  for  nearly 
fourteen  years."  Scarcely  had  he  arrived  at  the  court  of 
Louis  VIII.,  who  had  just  succeeded  his  father,  Philip  Augus- 
tus, when  he  ceded  to  the  King  of  France  his  rights  over  the 
domains  which  the  crusaders  had  conquered  by  a  deed  con- 
ceived in  these  terms :  "  Know  that  we  give  up  to  our  Lord 
Louis,  the  illustrious  King  of  the  French,  and  to  his  heirs  for- 
ever, to  dispose  of  according  to  their  pleasure,  all  the  privileges 
and  gifts  that  the  Roman  Church  did  grant  unto  our  father 
Simon  of  pious  memory,  in  respect  of  the  countship  of  Tou- 
louse and  other  districts  in  Albigeois  ;  supposing  that  the  pope 
do  accomplish  all  the  demands  made  to  him  by  the  king 
through  the  Archbishop  of  Bourges,  and  the  Bishops  of  Langres 
and  Chartres ;  else,  be  it  known  for  certain  that  we  cede  not 
to  any  one  aught  of  all  these  domains." 

Whilst  this  cruel  war  lasted  Philip  Augustus  would  not 
take  any  part  in  it.  Not  that  he  had  any  leaning  towards  the 
Albigensian  heretics  on  the  score  of  creed  or  religious  liberty  ; 
but  his  sense  of  justice  and  moderation  was  shocked  at  the 
violence  employed  against  them,  and  he  had  a  repugnance  to 
the  idea  of  taking  part  in  the  devastation  of  the  beautiful 
southern  provinces.  He  took  it  ill,  moreover,  that  the  pope 
should  arrogate  to  himself  the  right  of  despoiling  of  their 
dominions,  on  the  ground  of  heresy,  princes  who  were  vassals 
of  the  King  of  France ;  and,  without  offering  any  formal 
opposition,  he  had  no  mind  to  give  his  assent  thereto.  When 
Innocent  III.  called  upon  him  to  co-operate  in  the  crusade, 
Philip  answered,  "  that  he  had  at  his  flanks  two  huge  and 
terrible  lions,  the  Emperor  Otho,  and  King  John  of  England, 
who  were  working  with  all  their  might  to  bring  trouble  upon 
the  kingdom  of  France ;  that,  consequently,  he  had  no  inclina- 
tion   at   all   to  leave   France,  or  even  to  send  his  son  ;  but  it 

vol.  ir.  14 


106  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.     [Chap.  XVIII. 

seemed  to  him  enough,  for  the  present,  if  he  allowed  his  barons 
to  march  against  the  disturbers  of  peace  and  of  the  faith  in  the 
province  of  Narbonne."  In  1213,  when  Simon  de  Montfort 
had  gained  the  battle  of  Muret,  Philip  allowed  Prince  Louis 
to  go  and  look  on  when  possession  was  taken  of  Toulouse  by 
the  crusaders ;  but  when  Louis  came  back  and  reported  to  his 
father,  "  in  the  presence  of  the  princes  and  barons  who  were, 
for  the  most  part,  relatives  and  allies  of  Count  Raymond,  the 
great  havoc  committed  by  Count  Simon  in  the  city  after 
surrender,  the  king  withdrew  to  his  apartments  without  any 
ado  beyond  saying  to  those  present,  4  Sirs,  I  have  yet  hope  that 
before  very  long  Count  cle  Montfort  and  his  brother  Guy  will 
die  at  their  work,  for  God  is  just,  and  will  suffer  these  counts 
to  perish  thereat,  because  their  quarrel  is  unjust. '  "  Never- 
theless, at  a  little  later  period,  when  the  crusade  was  at  its 
greatest  heat,  Philip,  on  the  pope's  repeated  entreaty,  author- 
ized his  son  to  take  part  in  it  with  such  lords  as  might  be 
willing  to  accompany  him  ;  but  he  ordered  that  the  expedition 
should  not  start  before  the  spring,  and,  on  the  occurrence  of 
some  fresh  incident,  he  had  it  further  put  off  until  the  follow- 
ing year.  He  received  visits  from  Count  Raymond  VI.,  and 
openly  testified  good  will  towards  him.  When  Simon  de 
Montfort  was  decisively  victorious,  and  in  possession  of  the 
places  wrested  from  Raymond,  Philip  Augustus  recognized 
accomplished  facts,  and  received  the  new  Count  of  Toulouse 
as  his  vassal ;  but  when,  after  the  death  of  Simon  de  Montfort 
and  Innocent  III.,  the  question  was  once  more  thrown  open, 
and  when  Raymond  VI.,  first,  and  then  his  son  Raymond  VII., 
had  recovered  the  greater  part  of  their  dominions,  Philip 
formally  refused  to  recognize  Amaury  de  Montfort  as  successor 
to  his  father's  conquests :  nay,  he  did  more  ;  he  refused  to  accept 
the  cession  of  those  conquests,  offered  to  him  by  Amaury  de 
Montfort  and  pressed  upon  him  by  Pope  Honorius  III.  Philip 
Augustus  was  not  a  scrupulous  sovereign,  nor  disposed  to  com- 
promise himself  for  the   mere  sake   of   defending  justice    and 


CiiAr.  XVIIL]        THE   KINGSHIP   IN   FRANCE.  107 

humanity  ;  but  he  was  too  judicious  not  to  respect  and  protect, 
to  a  certain  extent,  the  rights  of  his  vassals  as  well  as  his  own, 
and,  at  the  same  time,  too  discreet  to  involve  himself,  without 
necessity,  in  a  barbarous  and  dubious  war.  He  held  aloof  from 
the  crusade  against  the  Albigensians  with  as  much  wisdom,  and 
more  than  as  much  dignity,  as  he  had  displayed,  seventeen  years 
before,  in  withdrawing  from  the  crusade  against  the  Saracens. 

He  had,  in  1216,  another  great  chance  of  showing  his  discre- 
tion. The  English  barons  were  at  war  with  their  king,  John 
Lackland,  in  defence  of  Magna  Charta,  which  they  had  obtained 
the  year  before ;  and  they  offered  the  crown  of  England  to  the 
King  of  France,  for  his  son,  Prince  Louis.  Before  accepting, 
Philip  demanded  twenty-four  hostages,  taken  from  the  men  of 
note  in  the  country,  as  a  guarantee  that  the  offer  would  be  sup- 
ported in  good  earnest ;  and  the  hostages  were  sent  to  him. 
But  Pope  Innocent  III.  had  lately  released  King  John  from  his 
oath  in  respect  of  Magna  Charta,  and  had  excommunicated  the 
insurgent  barons ;  and  he  now  instructed  his  legate  to  oppose 
the  projected  design,  with  a  threat  of  excommunicating  the 
King  of  France.  Philip  Augustus,  who  in  his  youth  had 
dreamed  of  resuscitating  the  empire  of  Charlemagne,  was 
strongly  tempted  to  seize  the  opportunity  of  doing  over  again 
the  work  of  William  the  Conqueror;  but  he  hesitated  to  en- 
danger his  power  and  his  kingdom  in  such  a  war  against  King 
John  and  the  pope.  The  prince  was  urgent  in  entreating  his 
father:  "Sir,"  said  he,  "I  am  your  liegeman  for  the  fief  you 
have  given  me  on  this  side  of  the  sea ;  but  it  pertains  not  to  you 
to  decide  aught  as  to  the  kingdom  of  England;  I  do  beseech 
you  to  place  no  obstacle  in  the  way  of  my  departure.'"  The 
king,  "  seeing  his  son's  firm  resolution  and  anxiety,"  says  the 
historian  Matthew  Paris,  "  was  one  with  him  in  feeling  and 
desire  ;  but,  foreseeing  the  dangers  of  events  to  come,  he  did  not 
give  his  public  consent,  and,  without  any  expression  of  wish  or 
counsel,  permitted  him  to  go,  with  the  gift  of  his  blessing."  It 
was  the  young  and  ambitious  Princess  Blanche  of  Castille,  wife 


108  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.     [Chap.  XVIII. 

of  Prince  Louis,  and  destined  to  be  the  mother  of  St.  Louis,  who, 
after  her  husband's  departure  for  England,  made  it  her  business 
to  raise  troops  for  him  and  to  send  him  means  of  sustaining  the 
war.  Events  justified  the  discreet  reserve  of  Philip  Augustus ; 
for  John  Lackland,  after  having  suffered  one  reverse  previously, 
died  on  the  19th  of  October,  1216 ;  his  death  broke  up  the 
party  of  the  insurgent  barons;  and  his  son,  Henry  III.,  who 
was  crowned  on  the  28th  of  October,  in  Gloucester  cathedral, 
immediately  confirmed  the  Great  Charter.  Thus  the  national 
grievance  vanished,  and  national  feeling  resumed  its  sway  in 
England ;  the  French  everywhere  became  unpopular  ;  and  after 
a  few  months'  struggle,  with  equal  want  of  skill  and  success, 
Prince  Louis  gave  up  his  enterprise  and  returned  to  France  with 
his  French  comrades,  on  no  other  conditions  but  a  mutual  ex- 
change of  prisoners,  and  an  amnesty  for  the  English  who  had 
been  his  adherents. 

At  this  juncture,  as  well  as  in  the  crusade  against  the  Albi- 
gensians,  Philip  Augustus  behaved  towards  the  pope  with  a 
wisdom  and  ability  hard  of  attainment  at  any  time,  and  very 
rare  in  his  own :  he  constantly  humored  the  papacy  without 
being  subservient  to  it,  and  he  testified  towards  it  his  respect, 
and  at  the  same  time  his  independence.  He  understood  all  the 
gravity  of  a  rupture  with  Rome,  and  he  neglected  nothing  to 
avoid  one  ;  but  he  also  considered  that  Rome,  herself  not  want- 
ing in  discretion,  would  be  content  with  the  deference  of  the 
King  of  France  rather  than  get  embroiled  with  him  by  exacting 
his  submission.  Philip  Augustus,  in  his  political  life,  always 
preserved  this  proper  mean,  and  he  found  it  succeed  ;  but  in  his 
domestic  life  there  came  a  day  when  he  suffered  himself  to  be 
hurried  out  of  his  usual  deference  towards  the  pope ;  and,  after 
a  violent  attempt  at  resistance,  he  resigned  himself  to  submis- 
sion. Three  years  after  the  death  of  his  first  wife,  Isabel  of 
Hainault,  who  had  left  him  a  son,  Prince  Louis,  he  married 
Princess  Ingeburga  of  Denmark,  without  knowing  anything  at 
all  of  her,  just  as  it  generally  happens  in  the  case  of  royal  mar- 


Chap.  XVIII.]        THE   KINGSHIP   IN   FRANCE.  109 

riages.  No  sooner  had  she  become  his  wife  than,  without  any 
cause  that  can  be  assigned  with  certainty,  he  took  such  a  dislike 
to  her  that,  towards  the  end  of  the  same  year,  he  demanded  of 
and  succeeded  in  obtaining  from  a  French  council,  held  at  Com- 
piegne,  nullity  of  his  marriage  on  the  ground  of  prohibited  con- 
sanguinity. "  O,  naughty  France  !  naughty  France  !  O,  Rome ! 
Rome  !  "  cried  the  poor  Danish  princess,  on  learning  this  de- 
cision ;  and  she  did  in  fact  appeal  to  Pope  Celestine  III.  Whilst 
the  question  was  being  investigated  at  Rome,  Ingeburga,  whom 
Philip  had  in  vain  tried  to  send  back  to  Denmark,  was  marched 
about,  under  restraint,  in  France  from  castle  to  castle  and  con- 
vent to  convent,  and  treated  with  iniquitous  and  shocking  sever- 
ity. Pope  Celestine,  after  examination,  annulled  the  decision 
of  the  council  of  Compiogne  touching  the  pretended  consan- 
guinity, leaving  in  suspense  the  question  of  divorce,  and,  conse- 
quently, without  breaking  the  tie  of  marriage  between  the  king 
and  the  Danish  princess.  "I  have  seen,"  he  wrote  to  the 
Archbishop  of  Sens,  "  the  genealogy  sent  to  me  by  the  bishops, 
and  it  is  due  to  that  inspection  and  the  uproar  caused  by  this 
scandal  that  I  have  annulled  the  decree ;  take  care  now,  there- 
fore, that  Philip  do  not  marry  again,  and  so  break  the  tie  which 
still  unites  him  to  the  Church."  Philip  paid  no  heed  to  this 
canonical  injunction ;  his  heart  was  set  upon  marrying  again ; 
and,  after  having  unsuccessfully  sought  the  hand  of  two  German 
princesses,  on  the  borders  of  the  Rhine,  who  were  alarmed  by 
the  fate  of  Ingeburga,  he  obtained  that  of  a  princess,  a  Tyrolese 
by  origin,  Agnes  (according  to  others,  Mary)  of  Merania,  that 
is,  Moravia  (an  Austrian  province,  in  German  Mcehren,  out  of 
whic:i  the  chroniclers  of  the  time  made  Meranie  or  Merania,  the 
name  that  has  remained  in  the  history  of  Agnes).  She  was  the 
daughter  of  Berthold,  Marquis  of  Istria,  whom,  about  1180,  the 
Emperor  Frederick  Barbarossa  had  made  Duke  of  Moravia. 
According  to  all  contemporary  chronicles,  Agnes  was  not  only 
beautiful,  but  charming ;  she  made  a  great  impression  at  the 
court  of  France ;  and  Philip  Augustus,  after  his  marriage  with 


110  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF  FRANCE.     [Chap.  XVIII. 

her  in  June,  1196,  became  infatuated  with  her.  But  a  pope 
more  stern  and  bold  than  Celestine  III.,  Innocent  III.,  had  just 
been  raised  to  the  Holy  See,  and  was  exerting  himself,  in  court 
as  well  as  monastery,  to  effect  a  reformation  of  morals.  Imme- 
diately after  his  accession,  he  concerned  himself  with  the  con- 
jugal irregularity  in  which  the  King  of  France  was  living. 
"  My  predecessor,  Celestine,"  he  wrote  to  the  Bishop  of  Paris, 
"  would  fain  have  put  a  stop  to  this  scandal,  but  he  was  unsuc- 
cessful ;  as  for  me,  I  am  quite  resolved  to  prosecute  his  work, 
and  obtain  by  all  and  any  means  fulfilment  of  God's  law.  Be 
instant  in  speaking  thereof  to  the  king  on  my  behalf ;  and  tell 
him  that  his  obstinate  refusals  may  probably  bring  upon  him 
both  the  wrath  of  God  and  the  thunders  of  the  Church."  And 
indeed  Philip's  refusals  were  very  obstinate ;  for  the  pride  of 
the  king  and  the  feelings  of  the  man  were  equally  wounded. 
"  I  had  rather  lose  half  my  domains,"  said  he,  "  than  separate 
from  Agnes."  The  pope  threatened  him  with  the  interdict, — 
that  is,  the  suspension  of  all  religious  ceremonies,  festivals,  and 
forms  in  the  Church  of  France.  Philip  resisted  not  only  the 
threat,  but  also  the  sentence  of  the  interdict,  which  was  actually 
pronounced,  first  in  the  churches  of  the  royal  domain,  and  after- 
wards in  those  of  the  whole  kingdom.  "So  wroth  was  the 
king,"  says  the  chronicle  of  St.  Denis,  "  that  he  thrust  from 
their  sees  all  the  prelates  of  his  kingdom,  because  they  had  as- 
sented to  the  interdict."  "I  had  rather  turn  Mussulman,"  said 
Philip  ;  "  Saladin  was  a  happy  man,  for  he  had  no  pope."  But 
Innocent  III.  was  inflexible ;  he  claimed  respect  for  laws  divine 
and  human,  for  the  domestic  hearth  and  public  order.  The  con- 
science of  the  nation  was  troubled.  Agnes  herself  applied  to 
the  pope,  urging  her  youth,  her  ignorance  of  the  world,  the  sin- 
cerity and  , purity  of  her  love  for  her  husband.  Innocent  III. 
was  touched,  and  before  long  gave  indisputable  evidence  that  he 
was,  but  without  budging  from  his  duty  and  his  right  as  a 
Christian.  For  four  years  the  struggle  went  on.  At  last  Philip 
yielded  to  the  injunction  of  the  pope  and  the  feeling  of  his  peo- 


Chap.  XVIIL]       THE   KINGSHIP   IN   FRANCE.  Ill 

pie ;  lie  sent  away  Agnes,  and  recalled  Ingeburga.  The  pope, 
in  his  hour  of  victory,  showed  his  sense  of  equity  and  his  moral 
appreciation ;  taking  into  consideration  the  good  faith  of  Agnes 
in  respect  of  her  marriage,  and  Philip's  possible  mistake  as  to 
his  right  to  marry  her,  he  declared  the  legitimacy  of  the  two 
children  born  of  their  union.  Agnes  retired  to  Poissy,  where,  a 
few  months  afterwards,  she  died.  Ingeburga  resumed  her  title 
and  rights  as  queen,  but  without  really  enjoying  them.  Philip, 
incensed  as  well  as  beaten,  banished  her  far  from  him  and  his 
court,  to  Etampes,  where  she  lived  eleven  years  in  profound 
retirement.  It  was  only  in  1212  that,  to  fully  satisfy  the  pope, 
Philip,  more  persevering  in  his  political  wisdom  than  his  domes- 
tic prejudices,  restored  the  Danish  princess  to  all  her  royal  sta- 
tion at  his  side.     She  was  destined  to  survive  him. 

There  can  be  little  doubt  but  that  the  affection  of  Philip  Au- 
gustus for  Agnes  of  Merania  was  sincere ;  nothing  can  be  better 
proof  of  it  than  the  long  struggle  he  maintained  to  prevent  sep- 
aration from  her ;  but,  to  say  nothing  of  the  religious  scruples 
which  at  last,  perhaps,  began  to  prick  the  conscience  of  the 
king,  great  political  activity  and  the  government  of  a  kingdom 
are  a  powerful  cure  for  sorrows  of  the  heart,  and  seldom  is  there 
a  human  soul  so  large  and  so  constant  as  to  have  room  for  senti- 
ments and  interests  so  different,  both  of  them  at  once,  and  for  a 
long  continuance.  It  has  been  shown  with  what  intelligent 
assiduity  Philip  Augustus  strove  to  extend,  or,  rather,  to  com- 
plete the  kingdom  of  France ;  what  a  mixture  of  firmness  and 
moderation  he  brought  to  bear  upon  his  relations  with  his  vas- 
sals, as  well  as  with  his  neighbors ;  and  what  bravery  he  showed 
in  war,  though  he  preferred  to  succeed  by  the  weapons  of  peace. 
He  was  as  energetic  and  effective  in  the  internal  administration 
of  his  kingdom  as  in  foreign  affairs.  M.  Leopold  Delisle,  one  of 
the  most  learned  French  academicians,  and  one  of  the  most  ac- 
curate in  his  knowledge,  has  devoted  a  volume  of  more  than 
seven  hundred  pages  octavo  to  a  simple  catalogue  of  the  official 
acts  of  Philip  Augustus,  and  this  catalogue  contains  a  list  of 


112  POPULAR   HISTORY  OF   FRANCE.     [Chap.  XVIII. 

two  thousand  two  hundred  and  thirty-six  administrative  acts  of 
all  kinds,  of  which  M.  Delisle  confines  himself  to  merely  setting 
forth  the  title  and  object.  Search  has  been  made  in  this  long 
table  to  see  what  part  was  taken  b}^  Philip  Augustus  in  the  es- 
tablishment and  interior  regulation  of  the  communes,  that  great 
fact  which  is  so  conspicuous  in  the  history  of  French  civilization, 
and  which  will  before  long  be  made  the  topic  of  discourse  here. 
The  search  brings  to  light,  during  this  reign,  forty-one  acts  con- 
firming certain  communes  already  established,  or  certain  privi- 
leges previously  granted  to  certain  populations,  forty-three  acts 
establishing  new  communes,  or  granting  new  local  privileges, 
and  nine  acts  decreeing  suppression  of  certain  communes,  or  a 
repressive  intervention  of  the  royal  authority  in  their  internal 
regulation,  on  account  of  quarrels  or  irregularities  in  their  rela- 
tions either  with  their  lord,  or,  especially,  with  their  bishop. 
These  mere  figures  show  the  liberal  character  of  the  government 
of  Philip  Augustus,  in  respect  of  this  important  work  of  the 
eleventh,  twelfth,  and  thirteenth  centuries.  Nor  are  we  less 
struck  by  his  efficient  energy  in  his  care  for  the  interests  and 
material  civilization  of  his  people.  In  1185,  "  as  he  was  walk- 
ing one  day  in  his  palace,  he  placed  himself  at  a  window  whence 
he  was  sometimes  pleased,  by  way  of  pastime,  to  watch  the 
Seine  flowing  by.  Some  carts,  as  they  passed,  caused  the  mud 
with  which  the  streets  were  filled  to  emit  a  fetid  smell,  quite 
unbearable.  The  king,  shocked  at  what  was  as  unhealthy  as  it 
was  disgusting,  sent  for  the  burghers  and  provost  of  the  city, 
and  ordered  that  all  the  thoroughfares  and  streets  of  Paris 
should  be  paved  with  hard  and  solid  stone,  for  this  right  Chris- 
tian prince  aspired  to  rid  Paris  of  her  ancient  name,  Lutetia 
(Mud-town)."  It  is  added  that,  on  hearing  of  so  good  a  resolu- 
tion, a  moneyed  man  of  the  day,  named  Gerard  de  Poissy,  vol- 
unteered to  contribute  towards  the  construction  of  the  pavement 
eleven  thousand  silver  marks.  Nor  was  Philip  Augustus  less 
concerned  for  the  external  security  than  for  the  internal  salu- 
brity of  Paris.     In  1190,  on  the  eve  of  his  departure  for  the 


Chap.  XVIIL]        THE   KINGSHIP   IN   FRANCE.  113 

crusade,  "  he  ordered  the  burghers  of  Paris  to  surround  with  a 
good  wall,  flanked  by  towers,  the  city  he  loved  so  well,  and  to 
make  gates  thereto; "  and  in  twenty  years  this  great  work  was 
finished  on  both  sides  of  the  Seine.     "  The  king  gave  the  same 
orders,"  adds  the  historian  Rigord,  "about  the  towns  and  cas- 
tles of  all  his  kingdom ; "  and  indeed  it  appears  from  the  cat- 
alogue of  M.  Leopold  Delisle,  at  the  date  of  1193,  "  that,  at  the 
request  of  Philip  Augustus,  Peter  de  Courtenai,  Count  of  Nev- 
ers,  with  the  aid  of  the  church-men,  had  the  walls  of  the  town 
of  Auxerre  built."     And  Philip's  foresight  went  beyond  such 
important  achievements.     "  He  had  a  good  wall  built  to  enclose 
the  wood  of  Vincennes,   heretofore  open  to  any  sort  of  folk. 
The  King  of  England,  on  hearing  thereof,  gathered  a  great  mass 
of  fawns,  hinds,  does,  and  bucks,  taken  in  his  forests  in  Nor- 
mandy and  Aquitaine ;  and  having  had  them  shipped  aboard  a 
large  covered  vessel,  with  suitable  fodder,  he  sent  them  by  way 
of  the  Seine  to  King  Philip  Augustus,  his  liege-lord  at  Paris. 
King  Philip  received  the  gift  gladly,  had  his  parks  stocked  with 
the  animals,  and  put  keepers  over  them."     A  feeling,  totally 
unconnected  with  the  pleasures  of  the  chase,  caused  him  to 
order  an  enclosure  very  different  from  that  of  Vincennes.    "  The 
common  cemetery  of  Paris,  hard  by  the  Church  of  the  Holy 
Innocents,  opposite  the  street  of  St.  Denis,  had  remained  up  to 
that  time  open  to  all  passers,  man  and  beast,  without  anything 
to  prevent  it  from  being  confounded  with  the  most  profane  spot ; 
and  the  king,  hurt  at  such  indecency,  had  it  enclosed  by  high 
stone  walls,  with  as  many  gates  as  were  judged  necessary,  which 
were  closed  every  night."     At  the  same  time  he  had  built,  in 
this  same  quarter,  the  first  great  municipal  market-places,  en- 
closed, likewise,  by  a  wall,  with  gates  shut  at  night,  and  sur- 
mounted by  a  sort   of  covered   gallery.     He  was   not   quite   a 
stranger  to  a  certain  instinct,  neither  systematic  nor  of  general 
application,  but  practical  and  effective  on  occasion,  in  favor  of 
the  freedom  of  industry  and  commerce.     Before  his  time,  the 
ovens  employed  by  the  baking  trade  in  Paris  were  a  monopoly  ' 
VOL.  II.  15 


114  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.      [Chap.  XVIII. 

for  the  profit  of  certain  religious  or  laic  establishments ;  but 
when  Philip  Augustus  ordered  the  walling  in  of  the  new  and 
much  larger  area  of  the  city  "  he  did  not  think  it  right  to  ren- 
der its  new  inhabitants  subject  to  these  old  liabilities,  and  he 
permitted  all  the  bakers  to  have  ovens  wherein  to  bake  their 
bread,  either  for  themselves,  or  for  all  individuals  who  might 
wish  to  make  use  of  them."  Nor  were  churches  and  hospitals 
a  whit  less  than  the  material  interests  of  the  people  an  object  of 
solicitude  to  him.  His  reign  saw  the  completion,  and,  it  might 
almost  be  said,  the  construction  of  Notre-Dame  de  Paris,  the 
frontage  of  which,  in  particular,  was  the  work  of  this  epoch. 
At  the  same  time  the  king  had  the  palace  of  the  Louvre 
repaired  and  enlarged  ;  and  he  added  to  it  that  strong  tower  in 
which  he  kept  in  captivity  for  more  than  twelve  years  Ferrand, 
Count  of  Flanders,  taken  prisoner  at  the  battle  of  Bouvines.  It 
would  be  a  failure  of  justice  and  truth  not  to  add  to  these  proofs 
of  manifold  and  indefatigable  activity  on  the  part  of  Philip 
Augustus  the  constant  interest  he  testified  in  letters,  science, 
study,  the  University  of  Paris,  and  its  masters  and  pupils.  It 
was  to  him  that  in  1200,  after  a  violent  riot,  in  which  they 
considered  they  had  reason  to  complain  of  the  provost. of  Paris, 
the  students  owed  a  decree,  which,  by  regarding  them  as  clerics, 
exempted  them  from  the  ordinary  criminal  jurisdiction,  so  as  to 
render  them  subject  only  to  ecclesiastical  authority.  At  that 
time  there  was  no  idea  how  to  efficiently  protect  freedom  save 
by  granting  some  privilege. 

A  death  which  seems  premature  for  a  man  as  sound  and 
strong  in  constitution  as  in  judgment  struck  down  Philip  Au- 
gustus at  the  age  of  only  fifty-eight,  as  he  was  on  his  way  from 
Pacy-sur-Eure  to  Paris  to  be  present  at  the  council  which  was 
to  meet  there  and  once  more  take  up  the  affair  of  the  Albigen- 
sians.  He  had  for  several  months  been  battling  with  an  inces- 
sant fever ;  he  was  obliged  to  halt  at  Mantes,  and  there  he  died 
on  the  14th  of  January,  1223,  leaving  the  kingdom  of  France 
far   more   extensive   and   more   compact,    and  the   kingship  in 


Chap.  XVIII.]        THE   KINGSHIP   IX   FRANCE.  115 

France  far  stronger  and  more  respected  than  he  had  found 
them.  It  was  the  natural  and  well-deserved  result  of  his  ]ife. 
At  a  time  of  violence  and  irregular  adventure,  he  had  shown  to 
Europe  the  spectacle  of  an  earnest,  far-sighted,  moderate,  and 
able  government,  and  one  which  in  the  end,  under  many  hard 
trials,  had  nearly  always  succeeded  in  its  designs,  during  a  reign 
of  forty-three  years. 

He  disposed,  by  will,  of  a  considerable  amount  amassed  with- 
out parsimony,  and  even,  historians  say,  in  spite  of  a  royal  mag- 
nificence. We  will  take  from  that  will  but  two  paragraphs,  the 
first  two  :  — 

"  We  will  and  prescribe  first  of  all  that,  without  any  gainsay- 
ing, our  testamentary  executors  do  levy  and  set  aside,  out  of  our 
possessions,  fifty  thousand  livres  of  Paris,  in  order  to  restore,  as 
God  shall  inspire  them  with  wisdom,  whatsoever  may  be  due  to 
those  from  whom  they  shall  recognize  that  we  have  unjustly 
taken  or  extorted  or  kept  back  aught ;  and  we  do  ordain  this 
most  strictly." 

"  We  do  give  to  our  dear  spouse  Isamber  (evidently  Ingeburgct), 
Queen  of  the  French,  ten  thousand  livres  of  Paris.  We  might 
have  given  more  to  the  said  queen,  but  we  have  confined  our- 
selves to  this  sum  in  order  that  we  might  make  more  complete 
restitution  and  reparation  of  what  we  have  unjustly  levied." 

There  is  in  these  two  cases  of  testamentary  reparation,  to 
persons  unknown  on  the  one  hand  and  to  a  lady  long  maltreated 
on  the  other,  a  touch  of  probity  and  honorable  regret  for  wrong- 
doing which  arouses  for  this  great  king,  in  his  dying  hour,  more 
moral  esteem  than  one  would  otherwise  be  tempted  to  feel  for 
him. 

His  son,  Louis  VIII.,  inherited  a  great  kingdom,  an  undis- 
puted crown,  and  a  power  that  was  respected.  It  was  matter 
of  general  remark,  moreover,  that,  by  his  mother,  Isabel  of  Hai- 
nault,  he  was  descended  in  the  direct  line  from  Hermengarde, 
Countess  of  Namur,  daughter  of  Charles  of  Lorraine,  the  last  of 
the  Carlovingians.     Thus  the  claims  of  the  two  dynasties  of 


116  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF  FRANCE.     [Chap.  XVIII. 

Charlemagne  and  of  Hugh  Capet  were  united  in  his  person  ; 
and,  although  the  authority  of  the  Capetians  was  no  longer  dis- 
puted, contemporaries  were  glad  to  see  in  Louis  VIII.  this  two- 
fold heirship,  which  gave  him  the  perfect  stamp  of  a  legitimate 
monarch.  He  was,  besides,  the  first  Capetian  whom  the  king 
his  father  had  not  considered  it  necessary  to  have  consecrated 
during  his  own  life  so  as  to  impress  upon  him  in  good  time  the 
seal  of  religion.  Louis  was  consecrated  at  Rheims  no  earlier 
than  the  6th  of  August,  1223,  three  weeks  after  the  death 
of  Philip  Augustus ;  and  his  consecration  was  celebrated,  at 
Paris  as  well  as  at  Rheims,  with  rejoicings  both  popular  and 
magnificent.  But  in  the  condition  in  which  France  was  during 
the  thirteenth  century,  amidst  a  civilization  still  so  imperfect 
and  without  the  fortifying  institutions  of  a  free  government,  no 
accidental  good  fortune  could  make  up  for  a  king's  want  of 
personal  merit ;  and  Louis  VIII.  was  a  man  of  downright  medi- 
ocrity, without  foresight,  volatile  in  his  resolves  and  weak  and 
fickle  in  the  execution  of  them.  He,  as  well  as  Philip  Augus- 
tus, had  to  make  war  on  the  King  of  England,  and  negotiate 
with  the  pope  on  the  subject  of  the  Albigensians ;  but  at  one 
time  he  followed,  without  well  understanding  it,  his  father's 
policy,  at  another  he  neglected  it  for  some  whim,  or  under  some 
temporary  influence.  Yet  he  was  not  unsuccessful  in  his  war- 
like enterprises  ;  in  his  campaign  against  Henry  III.,  King  of 
England,  he  took  Niort,  St.  Jean  d'Angely,  and  Rochelle  ;  he 
accomplished  the  subjection  of  Limousin  and  Perigord  ;  and  had 
he  pushed  on  his  victories  beyond  the  Garonne,  he  might  per- 
haps have  deprived  the  English  of  Aquitaine,  their  last  posses- 
sion in  France  ;  but  at  the  solicitation  of  Pope  Honorius  III., 
he  gave  up  this  war,  to  resume  the  crusade  against  the  Albigen- 
sians. Philip  Augustus  had  foreseen  this  mistake.  "  After  my 
death,"  he  had  said,  "  the  clergy  will  use  all  their  efforts  to 
entangle  my  son  Louis  in  the  matters  of  the  Albigensians  ;  but 
he  is  in  weak  and  shattered  health  ;  he  will  be  unable  to  bear 
the  fatigue  ;  he  will  soon  die,  and  then  the  kingdom  will  be  left 


Chap.  XVIII.]       THE   KINGSHIP   IN   FRANCE.  117 

in  the  hands  of  a  woman  and  children  ;  and  so  there  will  be  no 
lack  of  dangers."  The  prediction  was  realized.  The  military 
campaign  of  Louis  VIII.  on  the  Rhone  was  successful ;  after  a 
somewhat  difficult  siege,  he  took  Avignon ;  the  principal  towns 
in  the  neighborhood,  Nimes  and  Aries,  amongst  others,  submit- 
ted ;  Amaury  de  Montfort  had  ceded  to  him  all  his  rights  over 
his  father's  conquests  in  Languedoc  ;  and  the  Albigensians  were 
so  completely  destroyed  or  dispersed  or  cowed  that,  when  it 
seemed  good  to  make  a  further  example  amongst  them  of  the 
severity  of  the  Church  against  heretics,  it  was  a  hard  matter  to 
rout  out  in  the  diocese  of  Narbonne  one  of  their  former  preach- 
ers, Peter  Isarn,  an  old  man  hidden  in  an  obscure  retreat,  from 
which  he  was  dragged  to  be  burned  in  solemn  state.  This  was 
Louis  VIII. 's  last  exploit  in  Southern  France.  He  was  dis- 
pleased with  the  pope,  whom  he  reproached  with  not  keeping 
all  his  promises  ;  his  troops  were  being  decimated  by  sickness  ; 
and  he  was  deserted  by  Theobald  IV.,  Count  of  Champagne, 
after   serving,   according  to  feudal  law,  for  forty  days. 

Louis,  incensed,  disgusted,  and  ill,  himself  left  his  army,  to 
return  to  his  own  Northern  France  ;  but  he  never  reached  it,  for 
fever  compelled  him  to  halt  at  Montpensier,  in  Auvergne,  where 
he  died  on  the  8th  of  November,  1226,  after  a  reign  of  three 
years,  adding  to  the  history  of  France  no  glory  save  that  of 
having  been  the  son  of  Philip  Augustus,  the  husband  of  Blanche 
of  Castille,  and  the  father  of  St.  Louis. 

We  have  already  perused  the  most  brilliant  and  celebrated 
amongst  the  events  of  St.  Louis's  reign,  his  two  crusades  against 
the  Mussulmans  ;  and  we  have  learned  to  know  the  man  at  the 
same  time  with  the  event,  for  it  was  in  these  warlike  outbursts 
of  his  Christian  faith  that  the  king's  character,  nay,  his  whole 
soul,  was  displayed  in  all  its  originality  and  splendor.  It  was 
his  good  fortune,  moreover,  to  have  at  that  time  as  his  comrade 
and  biographer,  Sire  de  Joinville,  one  of  the  most  sprightly  and 
charming  writers  of  the  nascent  French  language.  It  is  now  of 
Louis  in  France  and  of  his  government  at  home  that  we  have 


118  POPULAR   HISTORY    OF   FRANCE.      [Chap.  XVIII. 

to  take  note.  And  in  this  part  of  his  history  he  is  not  the  only 
royal  and  really  regnant  personage  we  encounter :  for  of  the 
forty-four  years  of  St.  Louis's  reign,  nearly  fifteen,  with  a  long 
interval  of  separation,  pertained  to  the  government  of  Queen 
Blanche  of  Castilie  rather  than  that  of  the  king  her  son.  Louis, 
at  his  accession  in  1226,  was  only  eleven  ;  and  he  remained  a 
minor  up  to  the  age  of  twenty-one,  in  1236,  for  the  time  of 
majority  in  the  case  of  royalty  was  not  yet  specially  and  rigor- 
ously fixed.  During  those  ten  years  Queen  Blanche  governed 
France ;  not  at  all,  as  is  commonly  asserted,  with  the  official 
title  of  regent,  but  simply  as  guardian  of  the  king  her  son. 
With  a  good  sense  really  admirable  in  a  person  so  proud  and 
ambitious,  she  saw  that  official  power  was  ill  suited  to  her 
woman's  condition,  and  would  weaken  rather  than  strengthen 
her ;  and  she  screened  herself  from  view  behind  her  son.  He  it 
was  who,  in  1226,  wrote  to  the  great  vassals,  bidding  them  to 
his  consecration  ;  he  it  was  who  reigned  and  commanded ;  and 
his  name  alone  appeared  on  royal  decrees  and  on  treaties.  It 
was  not  until  twenty-two  years  had  passed,  in  1248,  that  Louis, 
on  starting  for  the  crusade,  officially  delegated  to  his  mother  the 
kingly  authority,  and  that  Blanche,  during  her  son's  absence, 
really  governed  with  the  title  of  regent,  up  to  the  1st  of  Decem- 
ber, 1252,  the  day  of  his  death. 

During  the  first  period  of  his  government,  and  so  long  as  her 
son's  minority  lasted,  Queen  Blanche  had  to  grapple  with 
intrigues,  plots,  insurrections,  and  open  war,  and,  what  was  still 
worse  for  her,  with  the  insults  and  calumnies  of  the  crown's 
great  vassals,  burning  to  seize  once  more,  under  a  woman's  gov- 
ernment, the  independence  and  power  which  had  been  effectu- 
ally disputed  with  them  by  Philip  Augustus.  Blanche  resisted 
their  attempts,  at  one  time  with  open  and  persevering  energy, 
at  another  dexterously  with  all  the  tact,  address,  and  allure- 
ments of  a  woman.  Though  she  was  now  forty  years  of  age, 
she  was  beautiful,  elegant,  attractive,  full  of  resources,  and 
of  grace  in  her  conversation  as  well  as  her  administration,  en- 


Chap.  XVIII.]       THE  KINGSHIP   IN   FRANCE.  119 

dowed  with  all  the  means  of  pleasing,  and  skilful  in  availing 
herself  of  them  with  a  coquetry  which  was  occasionally  more 
telling  than  discreet.  The  malcontents  spread  the  most  odious 
scandals  about  her.  It  so  happened  that  one  of  the  most  con- 
siderable amongst  the  great  vassals  of  France,  Theobald  IV., 
Count  of  Champagne,  a  brilliant  and  gay  knight,  an  ingenious 
and  prolific  poet,  had  conceived  a  passion  for  her ;  and  it  was 
affirmed  not  only  that  she  had  yielded  to  his  desires,  in  order  to 
keep  him  bound  to  her  service,  but  that  she  had,  a  while  ago, 
in  concert  with  him,  murdered  her  husband,  King  Louis  VIII. 
In  1230,  some  of  the  greatest  barons  of  the  kingdom,  the  Count 
of  Brittany,  the  Count  of  Boulogne,  and  the  Count  of  St.  Pol 
formed  a  coalition  for  an  attack  upon  Count  Theobald,  and 
invaded  Champagne.  Blanche,  taking  with  her  the  young  king 
her  son,  went  to  the  aid  of  Count  Theobald,  and,  on  arriving 
near  Troyes,  she  had  orders  given,  in  the  king's  name,  for  the 
barons  to  withdraw:  "If  you  have  plaint  to  make,"  said  she, 
"  against  the  Count  of  Champagne,  present  before  me  your  claim, 
and  I  will  do  you  justice."  "  We  will  not  plead  before  you," 
they  answered,  "  for  the  custom  of  women  is  to  fix  their  choice 
upon  him,  in  preference  to  other  men,  who  has  slain  their  hus- 
band." But  in  spite  of  this  insulting  defiance,  the  barons  did 
withdraw.  Five  years  later,  in  1235,  the  Count  of  Champagne 
had,  in  his  turn,  risen  against  the  king,  and  was  forced,  as  an 
escape  from  imminent  defeat,  to  accept  severe  terms. 

An  interview  took  place  between  Queen  Blanche  and  him ; 
and  u  '  Pardie,  Count  Theobald,'  said  the  queen,  'you  ought  not 
to  have  been  against  us  ;  you  ought  surely  to  have  remembered 
the  kindness  shown  you  by  the  king  my  son,  who  came  to 
your  aid,  to  save  your  land  from  the  barons  of  France  when 
they  would  fain  have  set  fire  to  it  all  and  laid  it  in  ashes.'  The 
count  cast  a  look  upon  the  queen,  who  was  so  virtuous  and  so 
beautiful  that  at  her  great  beauty  he  was  all  abashed,  and 
answered  her,  '  By  my  faith,  madame,  my  heart  and  my  body 
and  all  my  land  is  at  your  command,  and  there  is  nothing  which 


120  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.        [Chap.  XVIII. 

to  please  you  I  would  not  readily  do  ;  and  against  you  or  yours, 
please  God,  I  will  never  go.'  Thereupon  he  went  his  way  full 
pensively,  and  often  there  came  back  to  his  remembrance  the 
queen's  soft  glance  and  lovely  countenance.  Then  his  heart 
was  touched  by  a  soft  and  amorous  thought.  But  when  he 
remembered  how  high  a  dame  she  was,  so  good  and  pure  that 
he  could  never  enjoy  her,  his  soft  thought  of  love  was  changed 
to  a  great  sadness.  And  because  deep  thoughts  engender  mel- 
ancholy, it  was  counselled  unto  him  by  certain  wise  men  that 
he  should  make  his  study  of  canzonets  for  the  viol  and  soft 
delightful  ditties.  So  made  he  the  most  beautiful  canzonets 
and  the  most  delightful  and  most  melodious  that  at  any  time 
were  heard."  {Histoire  des  Dues  et  des  Comtes  de  Champagne, 
by  M.  d'Arbois  de  Jubainville,  t.  iv.  pp.  249,  280 ;  Chroniques 
de  Saint-Denis,  in  the  Recueil  des  Historiens  des  Craules  et  de 
France,  t.  xxi.  pp.  Ill,  112.) 

Neither  in  the  events  nor  in  the  writings  of  the  period  is  it 
easy  to  find  anything  which  can  authorize  the  accusations  made 
by  the  foes  of  Queen  Blanche.  There  is  no  knowing  whether 
her  heart  were  ever  so  little  touched  by  the  canzonets  of  Count 
Theobald ;  but  it  is  certain  that  neither  the  poetry  nor  the 
advances  of  the  count  made  any  difference  in  the  resolutions  and 
behavior  of  the  queen.  She  continued  her  resistance  to  the 
pretensions  and  machinations  of  the  crown's  great  vassals, 
whether  foes  or  lovers,  and  she  carried  forward,  in  the  face  and 
in  the  teeth  of  all,  the  extension  of  the  domains  and  the  power 
of  the  kingship.  We  observe  in  her  no  prompting  of  enthu- 
siasm, of  sympathetic  charitableness,  or  of  religious  scrupulous- 
ness, that  is,  none  of  those  grand  moral  impulses  which  are  char- 
acteristic of  Christian  piety,  and  which  were  predominant  in  St. 
Louis.  Blanche  was  essentially  politic  and  concerned  with  her 
temporal  interests  and  successes ;  and  it  was  not  from  her  teach- 
ing or  her  example  that  her  son  imbibed  those  sublime  and  dis- 
interested feelings  which  stamped  him  the  most  original  and  the 
rarest  on  the  roll  of  glorious  kings.      What  St.  Louis  really 


Chap.  XVIII. j       THE   KINGSHIP   IN  FRANCE.  121 

owed  to  his  mother  —  and  it  was  a  great  deal  —  was  the  steady 
triumph  which,  whether  by  arms  or  by  negotiation,  Blanche 
gained  over  the  great  vassals,  and  the  preponderance  which, 
amidst  the  struggles  of  the  feudal  system,  she  secured  for  the 
kingship  of  her  son  in  his  minority.  She  saw  by  profound  in- 
stinct what  forces  and  alliances  might  be  made  serviceable  to 
the  kingly  power  against  its  rivals.  When,  on  the  29th  of 
November,  1226,  only  three  weeks  after  the  death  of  her  hus- 
band, Louis  VIII.,  she  had  her  son  crowned  at  Rheims,  she  bade 
to  the  ceremony  not  only  the  prelates  and  grandees  of  the  king- 
dom, but  also  the  inhabitants  of  the  neighboring  communes ; 
wishing  to  let  the  great  lords  see  the  people  surrounding  the 
royal  child.  Two  years  later,  in  1228,  amidst  the  insurrection 
of  the  barons,  who  were  assembled  at  Corbeil,  and  who  medi- 
tated seizing  the  person  of  the  young  king  during  his  halt  at 
Montlhery  on  his  march  to  Paris,  Queen  Blanche  had  summoned 
to  her  side,  together  with  the  faithful  chivalry  of  the  country, 
the  burghers  of  Paris  and  of  the  neighborhood;  and  they 
obej^ed  the  summons  with  alacrity.  "  They  went  forth  all 
under  arms,  and  took  the  road  to  Montlheiy,  where  they  found 
the  king,  and  escorted  him  to  Paris,  all  in  their  ranks  and  in 
order  of  battle.  From  Montlhery  to  Paris,  the  road  was  lined, 
on  both  sides,  by  men-at-arms  and  others,  who  loudly  besought 
Our  Lord  to  grant  the  young  king  long  life  and  prosperity,  and 
to  vouchsafe  him  protection  against  all  his  enemies.  As  soon 
as  they  set  out  from  Paris,  the  lords,  having  been  told  the  news, 
and  not  considering  themselves  in  a  condition  to  fight  so  great 
a  host,  retired  each  to  his  own  abode  ;  and  hj  the  ordering  of 
God,  who  disposes  as  he  pleases  Him  of  times  and  the  deeds 
of  men,  they  dared  not  undertake  anything  against  the  king 
during  the  rest  of  this  year."  {Vie  de  Saint  Louis,  by  Lenain 
de  Tillemont,  t.  i.  pp.  429,  478.) 

Eight  years  later,  in  1236,  Louis  IX.  attained  his  majority, 
and  his  mother  transferred  to  him  a  power  respected,  feared, 
and  encompassed  by  vassals   always   turbulent   and   still  often 

VOL.  II.  16 


122  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.     [Chap.  XVIII. 

aggressive,  but  disunited,  weakened,  intimidated,  or  discredited, 
and  always  outwitted,  for  a  space  of  ten  years,  in  their  plots. 

When  she  had  secured  the  political  position  of  the  king  her 
son,  and  as  the  time  of  his  majority  approached,  Queen  Blanche 
gave  her  attention  to  his  domestic  life  also.  She  belonged  to 
the  number  of  those  who  aspire  to  play  the  part  of  Providence 
towards  the  objects  of  their  affection,  and  to  regulate  their  des- 
tiny in  everything.  Louis  was  nineteen;  he  was  handsome, 
after  a  refined  and  gentle  style  which  spoke  of  moral  worth 
without  telling  of  great  physical  strength  ;  he  had  delicate  and 
chiselled  features,  a  brilliant  complexion,  and  light  hair,  abun- 
dant and  glossy,  which,  through  his  grandmother  Isabel,  he 
inherited  from  the  family  of  the  Counts  of  Hainault.  He  dis- 
played liveliness  and  elegance  in  his  tastes  ;  he  was  fond  of 
amusements,  games,  hunting,  hounds  and  hawking-birds,  fine 
clothes,  magnificent  furuiture.  A  holy  man,  they  say,  even 
reproached  the  queen  his  mother  with  having  winked  at  cer- 
tain inclinations  evinced  by  him  towards  irregular  connections. 
Blanche  determined  to  have  him  married ;  and  had  no  difficulty 
in  exciting  in  him  so  honorable  a  desire.  Raymond  Beranger, 
Count  of  Provence,  had  a  daughter,  his  eldest,  named  Mar- 
guerite, "who  was  held,"  say  the  chronicles,  "to  be  the  most 
noble,  most  beautiful,  and  best  educated  princess  at  that  time  in 
Europe.  .  .  .  By  the  advice  of  his  mother  and  of  the  wisest 
persons  in  his  kingdom,"  Louis  asked  for  her  hand  in  marriage. 
The  Count  of  Provence  was  overjoyed  at  the  proposal ;  but  he 
was  somewhat  anxious  about  the  immense  dowry  which,  it  was 
said,  he  would  have  to  give  his  daughter.  His  intimate  adviser 
was  a  Provencal  nobleman,  named  Romeo  de  Villeneuve,  who 
said  to  him,  "  Count,  leave  it  to  me,  and  let  not  this  great  ex- 
pense cause  you  any  trouble.  If  you  marry  your  eldest  high, 
the  mere  consideration  of  the  alliance  will  get  the  others  mar- 
ried better  and  at  less  cost."  Count  Raymond  listened  to  rea- 
son, and  before  long  acknowledged  that  his  adviser  was  right. 
He  had  four  daughters,  Marguerite,  Eleanor,  Sancie,  and  Bea- 


Chap.  XVIIL]       THE  KINGSHIP   IN   FRANCE.  123 

trice ;  and  when  Marguerite  was  Queen  of  France,  Eleanor  be- 
came Queen  of  England,  Sancie  Countess  of  Cornwall  and  after- 
wards Queen  of  the  Romans,  and  Beatrice  Countess  of  Anjou 
and  Provence,  and  ultimately  Queen  of  Sicily.  Princess  Mar- 
guerite arrived  in  France  escorted  by  a  brilliant  embassy,  and 
the  marriage  was  celebrated  at  Sens,  on  the  27th  of  May,  1234, 
amidst  great  rejoicings  and  abundant  largess  to  the  people.  As 
soon  as  he  was  married  and  in  possession  of  happiness  at  home, 
Louis  of  his  own  accord  gave  up  the  worldly  amusements  for 
which  he  had  at  first  displayed  a  taste ;  his  hunting  establish- 
ment, his  games,  his  magnificent  furniture  and  dress,  gave  place 
to  simpler  pleasures  and  more  Christian  occupations.  The  ac- 
tive duties  of  the  kingship,  the  fervent  and  scrupulous  exercise 
of  piety,  the  pure  and  impassioned  joys  of  conjugal  life,  the 
glorious  plans  of  a  knight  militant  of  the  cross,  were  the  only 
things  which  took  up  the  thoughts  and  the  time  of  this  young 
king,  who  was  modestly  laboring  to  become  a  saint  and  a  hero. 

There  was  one  heartfelt  discomfort  which  disturbed  and 
troubled  sometimes  the  sweetest  moments  of  his  life.  Queen 
Blanche,  having  got  her  son  married,  was  jealous  of  the  wife 
and  of  the  happiness  she  had  conferred  upon  her ;  jealous  as 
mother  and  as  queen,  a  rival  for  affection  and  for  empire.  This 
sad  and  hateful  feeling  hurried  her  into  acts  as  devoid  of  dig- 
nity as  they  were  of  justice  and  kindness.  "  The  harshness  of 
Queen  Blanche  towards  Queen  Marguerite,"  says  Joinville, 
"  was  such  that  Queen  Blanche  would  not  suffer,  so  far  as  her 
power  went,  that  her  son  should  keep  his  wife's  company. 
Where  it  was  most  pleasing  to  the  king  and  the  queen  to  live 
was  at  Pontoise,  because  the  king's  chamber  was  above  and  the 
queen's  below.  And  they  had  so  well  arranged  matters  that 
they  held  their  converse  on  a  spiral  staircase  which  led  down 
from  the  one  chamber  to  the  other.  When  the  ushers  saw  the 
queen-mother  coming  into  the  chamber  of  the  king  her  son, 
they  knocked  upon  the  door  with  their  staves,  and  the  king 
came  running  into  his  chamber,  so  that  his  mother  might  find 


124  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF    FRANCE.     [Chap.  XVIII. 

him  there  ;  and  so,  in  turn,  did  the  ushers  of  Queen  Marguerite's 
chamber  when  Queen  Blanche  came  thither,  so  that  she  might 
find  Queen  Marguerite  there.  One  day  the  king  was  with  the 
queen  his  wife,  and  she  was  in  great  peril  of  death,  for  that  she 
had  suffered  from  a  child  of  which  she  had  been  delivered. 
Queen  Blanche  came  in,  and  took  her  son  by  the  hand,  and 
said  to  him,  '  Come  you  away  ;  you  are  doing  no  good  here.' 
When  Queen  Marguerite  saw  that  the  queen-mother  was  taking 
the  king  away,  she  cried,  '  Alas  !  neither  dead  nor  alive  will  you 
let  me  see  my  lord ; '  and  thereupon  she  swooned,  and  it  was 
thought  that  she  was  dead.  The  king,  who  thought  she  was 
dying,  came  back,  and  with  great  pains  she  was  brought  round." 

Louis  gave  to  his  wife  consolation  and  to  his  mother  support. 
Amongst  the  noblest  souls  and  in  the  happiest  lives  there  are 
wounds  which  cannot  be  healed  and  sorrows  which  must  be 
borne  in  silence. 

When  Louis  reached  his  majority,  his  entrance  upon  personal 
exercise  of  the  kingly  power  produced  no  change  in  the  conduct 
of  public  affairs.  There  was  no  vain  seeking  after  innovation 
on  purpose  to  mark  the  accession  of  a  new  master,  and  no  re- 
action in  the  deeds  and  words  of  the  sovereign  or  in  the  choice 
and  treatment  of  his  advisers ;  the  kingship  of  the  son  was  a 
continuance  of  the  mother's  government.  Louis  persisted  in 
struggling  for  the  preponderance  of  the  crown  against  the 
great  vassals ;  succeeded  in  taming  Peter  Mauclerc,  the  turbu- 
lent Count  of  Brittany ;  wrung  from  Theobald  IV.,  Count  of 
Champagne,  the  rights  of  suzerainty  in  the  countships  of  Char- 
tres,  Blois,  and  Sancerre,  and  the  viscountship  of  Chateaudun, 
and  purchased  the  fertile  countship  of  Macon  from  its  possessor. 
It  was  almost  always  by  pacific  procedure,  by  negotiations  ably 
conducted,  and  conventions  faithfully  executed,  that  he  accom- 
plished these  increments  of  the  kingly  domain  ;  and  when  he 
made  war  on  any  of  the  great  vassals,  he  engaged  therein  only 
on  their  provocation,  to  maintain  the  rights  or  honor  of  his 
crown,  and  he  used  victory  with  as  much  moderation  as  he  had 


Chap.  XVIII.]       THE  KINGSHIP   IN  FRANCE.  125 

shown  before  entering  upon  the  struggle.  In  1241,  he  was  at 
Poitiers,  where  his  brother  Alphonso,  the  new  Count  of  Poitou, 
was  to  receive,  in  his  presence,  the  homage  of  the  neighboring 
lords  whose  suzerain  he  was.  A  confidential  letter  arrived, 
addressed  not  to  Louis  himself,  but  to  Queen  Blanche,  whom 
many  faithful  subjects  continued  to  regard  as  the  real  regent 
of  the  kingdom,  and  who  probably  continued  also  to  have  her 
own  private  agents.  An  inhabitant  of  Rochelle,  at  any  rate, 
wrote  to  inform  the  queen-mother  that  a  great  plot  was  being 
hatched  amongst  certain  powerful  lords,  of  La  Marche,  Sain- 
tonge,  Angoumois,  and  perhaps  others,  to  decline  doing  homage 
to  the  new  Count  of  Poitou,  and  thus  to  enter  into  rebellion 
against  the  king  himself.  The  news  was  true,  and  was  given 
with  circumstantial  detail.  Hugh  de  Lusignan,  Count  of  La 
Marche,  and  the  most  considerable  amongst  the  vassals  of  the 
Count  of  Poitiers,  was,  if  not  the  prime  mover,  at  any  rate 
the  principal  performer  in  the  plot.  His  wife,  Joan  (Isabel) 
of  Angouleme,  widow  of  the  late  King  of  England,  John 
Lackland,  and  mother  of  the  reigning  king,  Henry  III.,  was 
indignant  at  the  notion  of  becoming  a  vassal  of  a  prince  him- 
self a  vassal  of  the  King  of  France,  and  so  seeing  herself — 
herself  but  lately  a  queen,  and  now  a  king's  widow  and  a  king's 
mother  —  degraded,  in  France,  to  a  rank  below  that  of  the 
Countess  of  Poitiers.  When  her  husband,  the  Count  of  La 
Marche,  went  and  rejoined  her  at  Angouleme,  he  found  her 
giving  way  alternately  to  anger  and  tears,  tears  and  anger. 
"  Saw  you  not,"  said  she,  "  at  Poitiers,  where  I  waited  three 
days  to  please  your  king  and  his  queen,  how  that  when  I 
appeared  before  them,  in  their  chamber,  the  king  was  seated 
on  one  side  of  the  bed,  and  the  queen,  with  the  Countess  of 
Chartres,  and  her  sister,  the  abbess,  on  the  other  side  ?  They 
did  not  call  me  nor  bid  me  sit  with  them,  and  that  purposely, 
in  order  to  make  me  vile  in  the  eyes  of  so  many  folk.  And 
neither  at  my  coming  in  nor  at  my  going  out  did  they  rise 
just  a  little  from  their  seats,  rendering  me  vile,  as  you  did  seo 


126  POPULAR  HISTORY   OF  FRANCE.     [Chap.  XVIII. 

yourself.  I  cannot  speak  of  it,  for  grief  and  shame.  And  it 
will  be  my  death,  far  more  even  than  the  loss  of  our  land 
which  they  have  unworthily  wrested  from  us  ;  unless,  by  God's 
grace,  they  do  repent  them,  and  I  see  them  in  their  turn 
reduced  to  desolation,  and  losing  somewhat  of  their  own  lands. 
As  for  me,  either  I  will  lose  all  I  have  for  that  end  or  I  will 
perish  in  the  attempt."  Queen  Blanche's  correspondent  added, 
"  The  Count  of  La  Marche,  whose  kindness  you  know,  seeing 
the  countess  in  tears,  said  to  her,  4  Madam,  give  your  com- 
mands: I  will  do  all  I  can;  be  assured  of  that.'  'Else,'  said 
she,  '  you  shall  not  come  near  my  person,  and  I  will  never 
see  you  more.'  Then  the  count  declared,  with  many  curses, 
that  he  would  do  what  his  wife  desired." 

And  he  was  as  good  as  his  word.  That  same  year,  1241, 
at  the  end  of  the  autumn,  "  the  new  Count  of  Poitiers,  who 
was  holding  his  court  for  the  first  time,  did  not  fail  to  bid  to 
his  feasts  all  the  nobility  of  his  appanage,  and,  amongst  the 
very  first,  the  Count  and  Countess  of  La  Marche.  They  re- 
paired to  Poitiers ;  but,  four  days  before  Christmas,  when  the 
court  of  Count  Alphonso  had  received  all  its  guests,  the  Count 
of  La  Marche,  mounted  on  his  war-horse,  with  his  wife  on  the 
crupper  behind  him,  and  escorted  by  his  men-at-arms  also 
mounted,  cross-bow  in  hand  and  in  readiness  for  battle,  was 
seen  advancing  to  the  prince's  presence.  Every  one  was  on  the 
tiptoe  of  expectation  as  to  what  would  come  next.  Then 
the  Count  of  La  Marche  addressed  himself  in  a  loud  voice  to 
the  Count  of  Poitiers,  saying,  4 1  might  have  thought,  in  a 
moment  of  forge tfulness  and  weakness,  to  render  thee  homage  ; 
but  now  I  swear  to  thee,  with  a  resolute  heart,  that  I  will 
never  be  thy  liegeman ;  thou  dost  unjustly  dub  thyself  my 
lord ;  thou  didst  shamefully  filch  this  countship  from  my  step- 
son, Earl  Richard,  whilst  he  was  faithfully  fighting  for  God 
in  the  Holy  Land,  and  was  delivering  our  captives  by  his  dis- 
cretion and  his  compassion.'  After  this  insolent  declaration, 
the  Count  of  La  Marche  violently  thrust  aside,  by  means  of 


DE  LA  MARCHE'S  PARTING  INSULT.  — Page  126. 


Chap.  XVIII.]       THE   KINGSHIP   IN   FRANCE.  127 

his  men-at-arms,  all  those  who  barred  his  passage ;  hasted,  by 
way  of  parting  insult,  to  fire  the  lodging  appointed  for  him 
by  Count  Alphonso,  and,  followed  by  his  people,  left  Poitiers 
at  a  gallop."  {Histoire  de  Saint  Louis,  by  M.  Felix  Faure,  t.  i. 
p.  347.) 

This  meant  war ;  and  it  burst  out  at  the  commencement  of 
the  following  spring.  It  found  Louis  equally  well  prepared 
for  it  and  determined  to  carry  it  through.  But  in  him  prudence 
and  justice  were  as  little  to  seek  as  resolution  ;  he  respected 
public  opinion,  and  he  wished  to  have  the  approval  of  those 
whom  he  called  upon  to  commit  themselves  for  him  and  with 
him.  He  summoned  the  crown's  vassals  to  a  parliament ;  and, 
"What  think  you,"  he  asked  them,  "should  be  done  to  a 
vassal  who  would  fain  hold  land  without  owning  a  lord,  and 
who  goeth  against  the  fealty  and  homage  due  from  him  and 
his  predecessors?"  The  answer  was,  that  the  lord  ought  in 
that  case  to  take  back  the  fief  as  his  own  property.  "  As  my 
name  is  Louis,"  said  the  king,  "the  Count  of  La  Marche  doth 
claim  to  hold  land  in  such  wise,  land  which  hath  been  a  fief 
of  France  since  the  days  of  the  valiant  King  Clovis,  who  won 
all  Aquitaine  from  King  Alaric,  a  pagan  without  faith  or  creed, 
and  all  the  country  to  the  Pyrenean  mount."  And  the  barons 
promised  the  king  their  energetic  co-operation. 

The  war  was  pushed  on  zealously  by  both  sides.  Henry  III., 
King  of  England,  sent  to  Louis  messengers  charged  to  declare 
to  him  that  his  reason  for  breaking  the  truce  concluded  between 
them  was,  that  he  regarded  it  as  his  duty  towards  his  step- 
father, the  Count  of  La  Marche,  to  defend  him  by  arms.  Louis 
answered  that,  for  his  own  part,  he  had  scrupulously  observed 
the  truce,  and  had  no  idea  of  breaking  it ;  but  he  considered 
that  he  had  a  perfect  right  to  punish  a  rebellious  vassal.  In 
this  young  King  of  France,  this  docile  son  of  an  able  mother, 
none  knew  what  a  hero  there  was,  until  he  revealed  himself 
on  a  sudden.  Near  two  towns  of  Saintonge,  Taillebourg  and 
Saintes,  at  a  bridge  which  covered  the  approaches  of  one  and 


128  POPULAR   HISTORY    OF   FRANCE.     [Chap.  XVIII. 

in  front  of  the  walls  of  the  other,  Louis,  on  the  21st  and  22d 
of  July,  delivered  two  battles,  in  which  the  brilliancy  of  his 
personal  valor  and  the  affectionate  enthusiasm  he  excited  in 
his  troops  secured  victory  and  the  surrender  of  the  two  places. 
"  At  sight  of  the  numerous  banners,  above  which  rose  the 
oriflamme,  close  to  Taillebourg,  and  of  such  a  multitude  of 
tents,  one  pressing  against  another  and  forming  as  it  were  a 
large  and  populous  city,  the  King  of  England  turned  sharply 
to  the  Count  of  La  Marche,  sa}Ting,  ;  My  father,  is  this  what 
you  did  promise  me?  Is  yonder  the  numerous  chivalry  that 
you  did  engage  to  raise  for  me,  when  you  said  that  all  I  should 
have  to  do  would  be  to  get  money  together  ?  '  4  That  did  I 
never  say,'  answered  the  count.  4  Yea,  verily,'  rejoined  Rich- 
ard, Earl  of  Cornwall,  brother  of  Henry  III. :  '  for  yonder  I 
have  amongst  my  baggage  writing  of  your  own  to  such  purport.' 
And  when  the  Count  of  La  Marche  energetically  denied  that 
he  had  ever  signed  or  sent  such  writing,  Henry  III.  reminded 
him  bitterly  of  the  messages  he  had  sent  to  England,  and  of 
his  urgent  exhortations  to  war.  '  It  was  never  done  with  my 
consent,'  cried  the  Count  of  La  Marche,  with  an  oath  ;  ;  put 
the  blame  of  it  upon  your  mother,  who  is  my  wife  ;  for,  by  the 
gullet  of  God,  it  was  all  devised  without  my  knowledge.' ' 

It  was  not  Henry  III.  alone  who  was  disgusted  with  the  war 
in  which  his  mother  had  involved  him ;  the  majority  of  the 
English  lords  who  had  accompanied  him  left  him,  and  asked 
the  King  of  France  for  permission  to  pass  through  his  kingdom 
on  their  way  home.  There  were  those  who  would  have  dis- 
suaded Louis  from  compliance ;  but,  "  Let  them  go,"  said  he ; 
"  I  would  ask  nothing  better  than  that  all  my  foes  should  thus 
depart  forever  far  away  from  my  abode."  Those  about  him 
made  merry  over  Henry  III.,  a  refugee  at  Bordeaux,  deserted 
by  the  English  and  plundered  by  the  Gascons.  "  Hold  !  hold  !  " 
said  Louis ;  "  turn  him  not  into  ridicule,  and  make  me  not 
hated  of  him  by  reason  of  your  banter ;  his  charities  and  his 
piety  shall  exempt  him  from  all  contumely."     The  Count  of 


Chap.  XVIIL]       THE  KINGSHIP  IN   FRANCE.  129 

La  March  e  lost  no  time  in  asking  for  peace  ;  and  Louis  granted 
it  with  the  firmness  of  a  far-seeing  politician  and  the  sympa- 
thetic feeling  of  a  Christian.  He  required  that  the  domains  he 
had  just  wrested  from  the  count  should  belong  to  the  crown, 
and  to  the  Count  of  Poitiers,  under  the  suzerainty  of  the  crown. 
As  for  the  rest  of  his  lands,  the  Count  of  La  Marche,  his  wife 
and  children,  were  obliged  to  beg  a  grant  of  them  at  the  good 
pleasure  of  the  king,  to  whom  the  count  was,  further,  to  give 
up,  as  guarantee  for  fidelity  in  future,  three  castles,  in  which  a 
royal  garrison  should  be  kept  at  the  count's  expense.  When 
introduced  into  the  king's  presence,  the  count,  his  wife,  and 
children,  "  with  sobs,  and  sighs,  and  tears,  threw  themselves 
upon  their  knees  before  him,  and  began  to  ciy  aloud,  c  Most  gra- 
cious sir,  forgive  us  thy  wrath  and  thy  displeasure,  for  we  have 
done  wickedly  and  pridefully  towards  thee.'  And  the  king, 
seeing  the  Count  of  La  Marche  in  such  humble  guise  before  him, 
could  not  restrain  his  compassion  amidst  his  wrath,  but  made 
him  rise  up,  and  forgave  him  graciously  all  the  evil  he  had 
wrought  against  him." 

A  prince  who  knew  so  well  how  to  conquer  and  how  to  treat 
the  conquered  might  have  been  tempted  to  make  an  unfair  use, 
alternately,  of  his  victories  and  of  his  clemency,  and  to  pursue 
his  advantages  beyond  measure ;  but  Louis  was  in  very  deed  a 
Christian.  When  war  was  not  either  a  necessity  or  a  duty,  this 
brave  and  brilliant  knight,  from  sheer  equity  and  goodness  of 
heart,  loved  peace  rather  than  war.  The  successes  he  had 
gained  in  his  campaign  of  1242  were  not  for  him  the  first  step  in 
an  endless  career  of  glory  and  conquest ;  he  was  anxious  only  to 
consolidate  them  whilst  securing,  in  Western  Europe,  for  the 
dominions  of  his  adversaries,  as  well  as  for  his  own,  the  benefits 
of  peace.  He  entered  into  negotiations,  successively,  with  the 
Count  of  La  Marche,  the  King  of  England,  the  Count  of  Tou- 
louse, the  King  of  Aragon,  and  the  various  princes  and  great 
feudal  lords  who  had  been  more  or  less  engaged  in  the  war ;  and 
in  January,  1243,  says  the  latest  and  most  enlightened  of  his 

VOL.  II.  17 


130  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.     [Chap.  XVIII. 

biographers,  "the  treaty  of  Lorris  marked  the  end  of  feudal 
troubles  for  the  whole  duration  of  St.  Louis's  reign.  He  drew 
his  sword  no  more,  save  only  against  the  enemies  of  the  Chris- 
tian faith  and  Christian  civilization,  the  Mussulmans.' '  (His- 
toire  de  St.  Louis,  by  M.  Felix  Faure,  t.  i.  p.  388.) 

Nevertheless  there  was  no  lack  of  opportunities  for  interfering 
with  a  powerful  arm  amongst  the  sovereigns  his  neighbors,  and 
for  working  their  disagreements  to  the  profit  of  his  ambition, 
had  ambition  guided  his  conduct.  The  great  struggle  between 
the  Empire  and  the  Papacy,  in  the  persons  of  Frederick  II., 
Emperor  of  Germany,  and  the  two  popes,  Gregory  IX.  and  In- 
nocent IV.,  was  causing  violent  agitation  in  Christendom,  the 
two  powers  setting  no  bounds  to  their  aspirations  of  getting  the 
dominion  one  over  the  other,  and  of  disposing  one  of  the  other's 
fate.  Scarcely  had  Louis  reached  his  majority  when,  in  1237, 
he  tried  his  influence  with  both  sovereigns  to  induce  them  to 
restore  peace  to  the  Christian  world.  He  failed ;  and  thence- 
forth he  preserved  a  scrupulous  neutrality  towards  each.  The 
principles  of  international  law,  especially  in  respect  of  a  govern- 
ment's interference  in  the  contests  of  its  neighbors,  whether 
princes  or  peoples,  were  not,  in  the  thirteenth  century,  system- 
atically discussed  and  defined  as  they  are  nowadays  with  us ; 
but  the  good  sense  and  the  moral  sense  of  St.  Louis  caused  him 
to  adopt,  on  this  point,  the  proper  course,  and  no  temptation, 
not  even  that  of  satisfying  his  fervent  piety,  drew  him  into  any 
departure  from  it.  Distant  or  friendly,  by  turns,  towards  the 
two  adversaries,  according  as  they  tried  to  intimidate  him  or  win 
him  over  to  them,  his  permanent  care  was  to  get  neither  the 
State  nor  the  Church  of  France  involved  in  the  struggle  between 
the  priesthood  and  the  empire,  and  to  maintain  the  dignity  of 
his  crown  and  the  liberties  of  his  subjects,  whilst  employing  his 
influence  to  make  prevalent  throughout  Christendom  a  policy 
of  justice  and  peace. 

That  was  the  policy  required,  in  the  thirteenth  century  more 
than  ever,  by  the  most  urgent  interests  of  entire  Christendom. 


Chap.  XVIII.]       THE  KINGSHIP   IN  FRANCE.  131 

She  was  at  grips  with  two  most  formidable  foes  and  perils. 
Through  the  crusades  she  had,  from  the  end  of  the  eleventh 
century,  become  engaged  in  a  deadly  struggle  against  the  Mus- 
sulmans in  Asia ;  and  in  the  height  of  this  struggle,  and  from 
the  heart  of  this  same  Asia,  there  spread,  towards  the  middle  of 
the  thirteenth  century,  over  Eastern  Europe,  in  Russia,  Poland, 
Hungary,  Bohemia,  and  Germany,  a  barbarous  and  very  nearly 
pagan  people,  the  Mongol  Tartars,  sweeping  onward  like  an  in- 
undation of  blood,  ravaging  and  threatening  with  complete  de- 
struction all  the  dominions  which  were  penetrated  by  their 
hordes.  The  name  and  description  of  these  barbarians,  the 
fame  and  dread  of  their  devastations,  ran  rapidly  through  the 
whole  of  Christian  Europe.  "  What  must  we  do  in  this  sad 
plight?"  asked  Queen  Blanche  of  the  king,  her  son.  "We 
must,  my  mother,"  answered  Louis  (with  sorrowful  voice,  but 
not  without  divine  inspiration,  adds  the  chronicler),  "we  must 
be  sustained  by  a  heavenly  consolation.  If  these  Tartars,  as  we 
call  them,  arrive  here,  either  we  will  hurl  them  back  to  Tar- 
tarus, their  home,  whence  they  are  come,  or  they  shall  send  us 
up  to  Heaven."  About  the  same  period,  another  cause  of  dis- 
quietude and  another  feature  of  attraction  came  to  be  added  to 
all  those  which  turned  the  thoughts  and  impassioned  piety  of 
Louis  towards  the  East.  The  perils  of  the  Latin  empire  of 
Constantinople,  founded,  as  has  been  already  mentioned,  in  1204, 
under  the  headship  of  Baldwin,  Count  of  Flanders,  were  be- 
coming day  by  day  more  serious.  Greeks,  Mussulmans,  and 
Tartars  were  all  pressing  it  equally  hard.  In  1236,  the  em- 
peror, Baldwin  II.,  came  to  solicit  in  person  the  support  of  the 
princes  of  Western  Europe,  and  especially  of  the  young  King 
of  France,  whose  piety  and  chivalrous  ardor  were  already  cel- 
ebrated everywhere.  Baldwin  possessed  a  treasure,  of  great 
power  over  the  imaginations  and  convictions  of  Christians,  in 
the  crown  of  thorns  worn  by  Jesus  Christ  during  His  passion. 
He  had  already  put  it  in  pawn  at  Venice  for  a  considerable  loan 
advanced  to  him  by  the  Venetians ;  and  he  now  offered  it  to 


132  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.     [C*ap.  XVIIL 

Louis  in  return  for  effectual  aid  in  men  and  money.  Louis 
accepted  the  proposal  with  transport.  He  had  been  scared,  a 
short  time  ago,  at  the  chance  of  losing  another  precious  relic 
deposited  in  the  abbey  of  St.  Denis,  one  of  the  nails  which,  it 
was  said,  had  held  Our  Lord's  body  upon  the  cross.  It  had 
been  mislaid  one  ceremonial  day  whilst  it  was  being  exhibited 
to  the  people  ;  and,  when  he  recovered  it,  "  I  would  rather," 
said  Louis,  "  that  the  best  city  in  my  kingdom  had  been  swal- 
lowed up  in  the  earth."  After  having  taken  all  the  necessary 
precautions  for  avoiding  any  appearance  of  a  shameful  bargain,  he 
obtained  the  crown  of  thorns,  all  expenses  included,  for  eleven 
thousand  livres  of  Paris,  that  is,  they  say,  about  twenty-six 
thousand  dollars  of  our  money.  Our  century  cannot  have  any 
fellow-feeling  with  such  ready  credulity,  which  is  not  required 
by  Christian  faith  or  countenanced  by  sound  criticism  ;  but  we 
can  and  we  ought  to  comprehend  such  sentiments  in  an  age 
when  men  not  only  had  profound  faith  in  the  facts  recorded  in 
the  Gospels,  but  could  not  believe  themselves  to  be  looking  upon 
the  smallest  tangible  relic  of  those  facts  without  experiencing 
an  emotion  and  a  reverence  as  profound  as  their  faith.  It  is  to 
such  sentiments  that  we  owe  one  of  the  most  perfect  and  most 
charming  monuments  of  the  middle  ages,  the  Holy  Chapel,  which 
St.  Louis  had  built  between  1245  and  1248  in  order  to  deposit 
there  the  precious  relics  he  had  collected.  The  king's  piety 
had  full  justice  and  honor  done  it  by  the  genius  of  the  architect, 
Peter  de  Montreuil,  who,  no  doubt,  also  shared  his  faith. 

It  was  after  the  purchase  of  the  crown  of  thorns  and  the 
building  of  the  Holy  Chapel  that  Louis,  accomplishing  at  last 
the  desire  of  his  soul,  departed  on  his  first  crusade.  We  have 
already  gone  over  the  circumstances  connected  with  his  deter- 
mination, his  departure,  and  his  life  in  the  East,  during  the  six 
years  of  pious  adventure  and  glorious  disaster  he  passed  there. 
We  have  already  seen  what  an  impression  of  admiration  and 
respect  was  produced  throughout  his  kingdom  when  he  was 
noticed  to  have  brought  back  with  him  from  the  Holy  Land  "  a 


Chap.  XVIIL]        THE   KINGSHIP   IN   FRANCE.  133 

fashion  of  living  and  doing  superior  to  his  former  behavior, 
although  in  his  youth  he  had  always  been  good  and  innocent 
and  worthy  of  high  esteem."  These  expressions  of  his  con- 
fessor are  fully  borne  out  by  the  deeds  and  laws,  the  administra- 
tion at  home  and  the  relations  abroad,  by  the  whole  government, 
in  fact,  of  St.  Louis  during  the  last  fifteen  years  of  his  reign. 
The  idea  which  was  invariably  conspicuous  and  constantly  main- 
tained during  his  reign  was  not  that  of  a  premeditated  and  am- 
bitious policy,  ever  tending  towards  an  interested  object  which 
is  pursued  with  more  or  less  reasonableness  and  success,  and 
always  with  a  large  amount  of  trickery  and  violence  on  the  part 
of  the  prince,  of  unrighteousness  in  his  deeds,  and  of  suffering 
on  the  part  of  the  people.  Philip  Augustus,  the  grandfather, 
and  Philip  the  Handsome,  the  grandson,  of  St.  Louis,  the  for- 
mer with  the  moderation  of  an  able  man,  the  latter  with  headi- 
ness  and  disregard  of  right  or  wrong,  labored  both  of  them 
without  cessation  to  extend  the  domains  and  power  of  the 
crown,  to  gain  conquests  over  their  neighbors  and  their  vassals, 
and  to  destroy  the  social  system  of  their  age,  the  feudal  system, 
its  rights  as  well  as  its  wrongs  and  tyrannies,  in  order  to  put 
in  its  place  pure  monarchy,  and  to  exalt  the  kingly  authority 
above  all  liberties,  whether  of  the  aristocracy  or  of  the  people. 
St.  Louis  neither  thought  of  nor  attempted  anything  of  the 
kind ;  he  did  not  make  war,  at  one  time  openly,  at  another 
secretly,  upon  the  feudal  system ;  he  frankly  accepted  its  prin- 
ciples, as  he  found  them  prevailing  in  the  facts  and  the  ideas  of 
his  times.  Whilst  fully  bent  on  repressing  with  firmness  his 
vassals'  attempts  to  shake  themselves  free  from  their  duties 
towards  him,  and  to  render  themselves  independent  of  the 
crown,  he  respected  their  rights,  kept  his  word  to  them  scrupu- 
lously, and  required  of  them  nothing  but  what  they  really  owed 
him.  Into  his  relations  with  foreign  sovereigns,  his  neighbors, 
he  imported  the  same  loyal  spirit.  "  Certain  of  his  council  used 
to  tell  him,"  reports  Joinville,  "  that  he  did  not  well  in  not 
leaving  those  foreigners  to  their  warfare ;  for,  if  he  gave  them 


134  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.     [Chap.  XVIII. 

his  good  leave  to  impoverish  one  another,  they  would  not  attack 
him  so  readily  as  if  they  were  rich.  To  that  the  king  replied 
that  they  said  not  well ;  for,  quoth  he,  if  the  neighboring 
princes  perceived  that  I  left  them  to  their  warfare,  they  might 
take  counsel  amongst  themselves,  and  say,  '  It  is  through  malice 
that  the  king  leaves  us  to  our  warfare ; '  then  it  might  happen 
that  by  cause  of  the  hatred  they  would  have  against  me,  they 
would  come  and  attack  me,  and  I  might  be  a  great  loser  there- 
by. Without  reckoning  that  I  should  thereby  earn  the  hatred 
of  God,  who  says,  'Blessed  be  the  peacemakers!'" 

So  well  established  was  his  renown  as  a  sincere  friend  of  peace 
and  a  just  arbiter  in  great  disputes  between  princes  and  peoples 
that  his  intervention  and  his  decisions  were  invited  wherever 
obscure  and  dangerous  questions  arose.  In  spite  of  the  brilliant 
victories  which,  in  1242,  he  had  gained  at  Taillebourg  and 
Saintes  over  Henry  III.,  King  of  England,  he  himself  perceived, 
on  his  return  from  the  East,  that  the  conquests  won  by  his  vic- 
tories might  at  any  moment  become  a  fresh  cause  of  new  and 
grievous  wars,  disastrous,  probably,  for  one  or  the  other  of  the 
two  peoples.  He  conceived,  therefore,  the  design  of  giving  to 
a  peace  which  was  so  desirable  a  more  secure  basis  by  founding 
it  upon  a  transaction  accepted  on  both  sides  as  equitable.  And 
thus,  whilst  restoring  to  the  King  of  England  certain  posses- 
sions which  the  war  of  1242  had  lost  to  him,  he  succeeded  in 
obtaining  from  him  in  return  "  as  well  in  his  own  name  as  in 
the  names  of  his  sons  and  their  heirs,  a  formal  renunciation  of 
all  rights  that  he  could  pretend  to  over  the  duchy  of  Normandy, 
the  countships  of  Anjou,  Maine,  Touraine,  Poitou,  and,  gener- 
ally, all  that  his  family  might  have  possessed  on  the  continent, 
except  only  the  lands  which  the  King  of  France  restored  to  him 
by  the  treaty  and  those  which  remained  to  him  in  Gascony. 
For  all  these  last  the  King  of  England  undertook  to  do  liege- 
homage  to  the  King  of  France,  in  the  capacity  of  peer  of  France 
and  Duke  of  Aquitaine  and  to  faithfully  fulfil  the  duties  at- 
tached to  a  fief."     When  Louis  made  known  this  transaction  to 


Chap.  XVIII.]       THE  KINGSHIP   IN   FRANCE.  135 

his  counsellors,  "they  were  very  much  against  it,"  says  Join- 
ville.  "  It  seemeth  to  us,  sir,"  said  they  to  the  king,  "  that,  if 
you  think  you  have  not  a  right  to  the  conquest  won  by  you  and 
your  antecessors  from  the  King  of  England,  you  do  not  make 
proper  restitution  to  the  said  king  in  not  restoring  to  him  the 
whole  ;  and  if  you  think  you  have  a  right  to  it,  it  seemeth 
to  us  that  jon  are  a  loser  by  all  you  restore."  "  Sirs,"  answered 
Louis,  "  I  am  certain  that  the  antecessors  of  the  King  of  Eng- 
land did  quite  justly  lose  the  conquest  which  I  hold  ;  and  as  for 
the  land  I  give  him,  I  give  it  him  not  as  a  matter  in  which  I  am 
bound  to  him  or  his  heirs,  but  to  make  love  between  my  chil- 
dren and  his,  who  are  cousins-german.  And  it  seemeth  to  me 
that  what  I  give  him  I  turn  to  good  purpose,  inasmuch  as  he 
was  not  my  liegeman,  and  he  hereby  cometh  in  amongst  my 
liegemen."  Henry  III.,  in  fact,  went  to  Paris,  having  with  him 
the  ratification  of  the  treaty,  and  prepared  to  accomplish  the 
ceremony  of  homage.  "  Louis  received  him  as  a  brother,  but 
without  sparing  him  aught  of  the  ceremony,  in  which,  according 
to  the  ideas  of  the  times,  there  was  nothing  humiliating  any 
more  than  in  the  name  of  vassal,  which  was  proudly  borne  by 
the  greatest  lords.  It  took  place  on  Thursday,  December  4, 
1259,  in  the  royal  enclosure  stretching  in  front  of  the  palace, 
on  the  spot  where  at  the  present  day  is  the  Place  Dauphine. 
There,  was  a  great  concourse  of  prelates,  barons,  and  other 
personages  belonging  to  the  two  courts  and  the  two  nations. 
The  King  of  England,  on  his  knees,  bareheaded,  without  cloak, 
belt,  sword,  or  spurs,  placed  his  folded  hands  in  those  of  the 
King  of  France  his  suzerain,  and  said  to  him,  4  Sir,  I  become 
your  liegeman  with  mouth  and  hands,  and  I  swear  and  promise 
you  faith  and  loyalty,  and  to  guard  your  right  according  to  my 
power,  and  to  do  fair  justice  at  your  summons  or  the  summons 
of  your  bailiff,  to  the  best  of  my  wit.'  Then  the  king  kissed 
him  on  the  mouth  and  raised  him  up." 

Three  years  later  Louis  gave  not  only  to  the  King  of  England, 
but  to  the  whole  English  nation,  a  striking  proof  of  his  judicious 


136  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF  FRANCE.     [Chap.  XVIII. 

and  true-hearted  equity.  An  obstinate  civil  war  was  raging 
between  Henry  III.  and  his  barons.  Neither  party,  in  defend- 
ing its  own  rights,  had  any  notion  of  respecting  the  rights  of  its 
adversaries,  and  England  was  alternating  between  a  kingly  and 
an  aristocratic  tyranny.  Louis,  chosen  as  arbiter  by  both  sides, 
delivered  solemnly,  on  the  23d  of  January,  1264,  a  decision 
which  was  favorable  to  the  English  kingship,  but  at  the  same 
time  expressly  upheld  the  Great  Charter  and  the  traditional 
liberties  of  England.  He  concluded  his  decision  with  the  fol- 
lowing suggestions  of  amnesty:  "We  will  also  that  the  King 
of  England  and  his  barons  do  forgive  one  another  mutually,  that 
they  do  forget  all  the  resentments  that  may  exist  between  them 
by  consequence  of  the  matters  submitted  to  our  arbitration, 
and  that  henceforth  they  do  refrain  reciprocally  from  any 
offence  and  injury  on  account  of  the  same  matters."  But 
when  men  have  had  their  ideas,  passions,  and  interests  pro- 
foundly agitated  and  made  to  clash,  the  wisest  decisions  and 
the  most  honest  counsels  in  the  world  are  not  sufficient  to 
re-establish  peace  ;  the  cup  of  experience  has  to  be  drunk  to 
the  dregs ;  and  the  parties  are  not  resigned  to  peace  until  one 
or  the  other,  or  both,  have  exhausted  themselves  in  the  struggle, 
and  perceive  the  absolute  necessity  of  accepting  either  defeat  or 
compromise.  In  spite  of  the  arbitration  of  the  King  of  France, 
the  civil  war  continued  in  England ;  but  Louis  did  not  seek  in 
any  way  to  profit  by  it  so  as  to  extend,  at  the  expense  of  his 
neighbors,  his  own  possessions  or  power  ;  he  held  himself  aloof 
from  their  quarrels,  and  followed  up  by  honest  neutrality  his 
ineffectual  arbitration.  Five  centuries  afterwards  the  great 
English  historian,  Hume,  rendered  him  due  homage  in  these 
terms :  "  Every  time  this  virtuous  prince  interfered  in  the  affairs 
of  England,  it  was  invariably  with  the  view  of  settling  differ- 
ences between  the  king  and  the  nobility.  Adopting  an  admi- 
rable course  of  conduct,  as  politic  probably  as  it  certainly  was 
just,  he  never  interposed  his  good  offices  save  to  put  an  end  to 
the  disagreements  of  the  English  ;  he  seconded  all  the  measures 


Chap.  XVIII.]       THE   KINGSHIP   IN   FRANCE.  137 

which  could  give  security  to  both  parties,  and  he  made  persist- 
ent efforts,  though  without  success,  to  moderate  the  fiery  ambi- 
tion of  the  Earl  of  Leicester."  (Hume,  History  of  England,  t. 
ii.  p.  465.) 

It  requires  more  than  political  wisdom,  more  even  than  vir- 
tue, to  enable  a  king,  a  man  having  in  charge  the  government 
of  men,  to  accomplish  his  mission  and  to  really  deserve  the  title 
of  Most  Christian  ;  .  it  requires  that  he  should  be  animated  by  a 
sentiment  of  affection,  and  that  he  should,  in  heart  as  well  as 
mind,  be  in  sympathy  with  those  multitudes  of  creatures  over 
whose  lot  he  exercises  so  much  influence.  St.  Louis  more  per- 
haps than  any  other  king  was  possessed  of  this  generous  and 
humane  quality :  spontaneously  and  by  the  free  impulse  of  his 
nature  he  loved  his  people,  loved  mankind,  and  took  a  tender 
and  comprehensive  interest  in  their  fortunes,  their  joys,  or  their 
miseries.  Being  seriously  ill  in  1259,  and  desiring  to  give  his 
eldest  son,  Prince  Louis,  whom  he  lost  in  the  following  year, 
his  last  and  most  heartfelt  charge,  "  Fair  son,"  said  he,  "  I  pray 
thee  make  thyself  beloved  of  the  people  of  thy  kingdom,  for 
verily  I  would  rather  a  Scot  should  come  from  Scotland  and 
govern  our  people  well  and  loyally  than  have  thee  govern  it 
ill."  To  watch  over  the  position  and  interests  of  all  parties  in 
his  dominions,  and  to  secure  to  all  his  subjects  strict  and  prompt 
justice,  this  was  what  continually  occupied  the  mind  of  Louis 
IX.  There  are  to  be  found  in  his  biography  two  very  different 
but  equally  striking  proofs  of  his  solicitude  in  this  respect.  M. 
Felix  Faure  has  drawn  up  a  table  of  all  the  journeys  made  by 
Louis  in  France,  from  1254  to  1270,  for  the  better  cognizance  of 
matters  requiring  his  attention,  and  another  of  the  parliaments 
which  he  held,  during  the  same  period,  for  considering  the  gen- 
eral affairs  of  the  kingdom  and  the  administration  of  justice. 
Not  one  of  these  sixteen  years  passed  without  his  visiting  several 
of  his  provinces,  and  the  year  1270  was  the  only  one  in  which 
he  did  not  hold  a  parliament.  (Histoire  de  Saint  Louis,  by  M. 
Felix  Faure,  t.  ii.  pp.  120,  339.)     Side  by  side  with  this  arith- 

VOL.  II.  18 


138  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF    FRANCE.     [Chap.  XVIII. 

♦  metical  proof  of  his  active  benevolence  we  will  place  a  moral 
proof  taken  from  Joinville's  often-quoted  account  of  St.  Louis's 
familiar  intervention  in  his  subjects'  disputes  about  matters  of 
private  interest.  "Many  a  time,"  says  he,  "it  happened  in 
summer  that  the  king  went  and  sat  down  in  the  wood  of  Vin- 
cennes  after  mass,  and  leaned  against  an  oak,  and  made  us  sit 
down  round  about  him.  And  all  those  who  had  business  came 
to  speak  to  him  without  restraint  of  usher  or  other  folk.  And 
then  he  demanded  of  them  with  his  own  mouth,  '  Is  there  here 
any  who  hath  a  suit  ?  '  and  they  who  had  their  suit  rose  up ; 
and  then  he  said,  '  Keep  silence,  all  of  ye  ;  and  ye  shall  have 
despatch  one  after  the  other.'  And  then  he  called  my  Lord 
Peter  de  Fontaines  and  my  Lord  Geoffrey  de  Yillette  (two 
learned  lawyers  of  the  day  and  counsellors  of  St.  Louis),  and 
said  to  one  of  them,  '  Despatch  me  this  suit.'  And  when  he 
saw  aught  to  amend  in  the  words  of  those  who  were  speaking 
for  another,  he  himself  amended  it  with  his  own  mouth.  I 
sometimes  saw  in  summer  that,  to  despatch  his  people's  business, 
he  went  into  the  Paris  garden,  clad  in  camlet  coat  and  linsey 
surcoat  without  sleeves,  a  mantle  of  black  taffety  round  his 
neck,  hair  right  well  combed  and  without  coif,  and  on  his 
head  a  hat  with  white  peacock's  plumes.  And  he  had  carpets 
laid  for  us  to  sit  round  about  him.  And  all  the  people  who 
had  business  before  him  set  themselves  standing  around  him ; 
and  then  he  had  their  business  despatched  in  the  manner  I 
told  you  of  before  as  to  the  wood  of  Vincennes."  (Joinville, 
chap,  xii.) 

The  active  benevolence  of  St.  Louis  was  not  confined  to  this 
paternal  care  for  the  private  interests  of  such  subjects  as  ap- 
proached his  person  ;  he  was  equally  attentive  and  zealous  in 
the  case  of  measures  called  for  by  the  social  condition  of  the 
times  and  the  general  interests  of  the  kingdom.  Amongst  the 
twenty-six  government  ordinances,  edicts,  or  letters^  contained 
under  the  date  of  his  reign  Jn  the  first  volume  of  the  Recueil 
des    Ordonnances  des  Hois  de  France,  seven,  at  the  least,  are 


Chap.  XVIII.]        THE   KINGSHIP   IN   FRANCE.  139 

great  acts  of  legislation  and  administration  of  a  public  kind  ; 
and  these  acts  are  all  of  such  a  stamp  as  to  show  that  their 
main  object  is  not  to  extend  the  power  of  the  crown  or  subserve 
the  special  interests  of  the  kingship  at  strife  with  other  social 
forces ;  they  are  real  reforms,  of  public  and  moral  interest, 
directed  against  the  violence,  disturbances,  and  abuses  of  the 
feudal  system.  Many  other  of  St.  Louis's  legislative  and  admin- 
istrative acts  have  been  published  either  in  subsequent  volumes 
of  the  Recueil  des  Ordonnances  des  Hois,  or  in  similar  collections, 
and  the  learned  have  drawn  attention  to  a  great  number  of 
them  still  remaining  unpublished  in  various  archives.  As  for 
the  large  collection  of  legislative  enactments  known  by  the 
name  of  Ftablissements  de  Saint  Louis,  it  is  probably  a  lawyer's 
work,  posterior,  in  great  part  at  least,  to  his  reign,  full  of  inco- 
herent and  even  contradictory  enactments,  and  without  any 
claim  to  be  considered  as  a  general  code  of  law  of  St.  Louis's 
date  aud  collected  by  his  order,  although  the  paragraph  which 
serves  as  preface  to  the  work  is  given  under  his  name  and  as 
if  it  had  been  dictated  by  him. 

Another  act,  known  by  the  name  of  the  Pragmatic  Sanction, 
has  likewise  got  placed,  with  the  date  of  March,  1268,  in  the 
Recueil  des  Ordonnances  des  Rois  de  France,  as  having  originated 
with  St.  Louis.  Its  object  is,  first  of  all,  to  secure  the  rights, 
liberties,  and  canonical  rules,  internally,  of  the  Church  of 
France  ;  and,  next,  to  interdict  "  the  exactions  and  very  heavy 
money-charges  which  have  been  imposed  or  may  hereafter  be 
imposed  on  the  said  Church  by  the  court  of  Koine,  and  by  the 
which  our  kingdom  hath  been  miserably  impoverished  ;  unless 
they  take  place  for  reasonable,  pious,  and  very  urgent  cause, 
through  inevitable  necessity,  and  with  our  spontaneous  and 
express  consent  and  that  of  the  Church  of  our  kingdom." 
The  authenticity  of  this  act,  vigorously  maintained  in  the  sev- 
enteenth century  by  Bossuet  (in  his  Defense  de  la  Declaration 
du  Clerge  de  France  de  1682,  chap.  ix.  t.  xliii.  p.  26),  and  in 
our  time  by  M.  Daunou  (in  the  Histoire  UttSraire  de  la  France, 


140  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.     [Chap.  XVIII. 

continuSe  par  des  Membres  de  VInstitut,  t.  xvi.  p.  75,  and  t.  xix. 
p.  169),  has  been  and  still  is  rendered  doubtful  for  strong  rea- 
sons, which  M.  Felix  Faure,  in  his  Histoire  de  Saint  Louis  (t.  ii. 
p.  271),  has  summed  up  with  great  clearness.  There  is  no 
design  of  entering  here  upon  an  examination  of  this  little  his- 
torical problem  ;  but  it  is  a  bounden  duty  to  point  out  that,  if 
the  authenticity  of  the  Pragmatic  Sanction,  as  St.  Louis's,  is 
questionable,  the  act  has,  at  bottom,  nothing  but  what  bears 
a  very  strong  resemblance  to,  and  is  quite  in  conformity  with, 
the  general  conduct  of  that  prince.  He  was  profoundly  re- 
spectful, affectionate,  and  faithful  towards  the  papacy,  but,  at 
the  same  time,  very  careful  in  upholding  both  the  independence 
of  the  crown  in  things  temporal,  and  its  right  of  superintend- 
ence in  things  spiritual.  Attention  has  been  drawn  to  his  pos- 
ture of  reserve  during  the  great  quarrel  between  the  priestdom 
and  the  empire,  and  his  firmness  in  withstanding  the  violent 
measures  adopted  by  Gregory  IX.  and  Innocent  IV.  against  the 
Emperor  Frederick  II.  Louis  carried  his  notions,  as  to  the  inde- 
pendence of  his  judgment  and  authority,  very  far  beyond  the 
cases  in  which  that  policy  went  hand  in  hand  with  interest,  and 
even  into  purely  religious  questions.  The  Bishop  of  Auxerre 
said  to  him  one  day,  in  the  name  of  several  prelates,  " '  Sir, 
these  lords  which  be  here,  archbishops  and  bishops,  have  told 
me  to  tell  you  that  Christianity  is  perishing  in  your  hands.' 
The  king  crossed  himself  and  said,  '  Well,  tell  me  how  that  is 
made  out!'  'Sir,'  said  the  bishop,  'it  is  because  nowadays  so 
little  note  is  taken  of  excommunications,  that  folk  let  death 
overtake  them  excommunicate  without  getting  absolution,  and 
have  no  mind  to  make  atonement  to  the  Church.  These  lords, 
therefore,  do  pray  you,  sir,  for  the  love  of  God  and  because  you 
ought  to  do  so,  to  command  your  provosts  and  bailiffs  that  all 
those  who  shall  remain  a  year  and  a  day  excommunicate  be 
forced,  by  seizure  of  their  goods,  to  get  themselves  absolved.' 
Whereto  the  king  made  answer  that  he  would  willingly  com- 
mand this  in   respect  of  the    excommunicate   touching   whom 


Chap.  XVIII.]       THE  KINGSHIP   IN   FRANCE.  141 

certain  proofs  should  be  given  him  that  they  were  in  the  wrong. 
The  bishop  said  that  the  prelates  would  not  have  this  at  any 
price,  and  that  they  disputed  the  king's  right  of  jurisdiction  in 
their  causes.  And  the  king  said  that  he  would  not  do  it  else ; 
for  it  would  be  contrary  to  God  and  reason  if  he  should  force 
folks  to  get  absolution  when  the  clergy  had  done  them  wrong. 
k  As  to  that,'  said  the  king,  '  I  will  give  you  the  example  of  the 
Count  of  Brittany,  who  for  seven  years,  being  fully  excommu- 
nicate, was  at  pleas  with  the  prelates  of  Brittany ;  and  he  pre- 
vailed so  far  that  the  pope  condemned  them  all.  If,  then,  I  had 
forced  the  Count  of  Brittany,  the  first  year,  to  get  absolution,  I 
should  have  sinned  against  God  and  against  him.'  Then  the 
prelates  gave  up ;  and  never  since  that  time  have  I  heard  that  a 
single  demand  was  made  touching  the  matters  above  spoken  of." 
(Joinville,  chap.  xiii.  p.  43.) 

One  special  fact  in  the  civil  and  municipal  administration  of 
St.  Louis  deserves  to  find  a  place  in  history.  After  the  time  of 
Philip  Augustus  there  was  malfeasance  in  the  police  of  Paris. 
The  provostship  of  Paris,  which  comprehended  functions  anal- 
ogous to  those  of  prefect,  mayor,  and  receiver-general,  became  a 
purchasable  office,  filled  sometimes  by  two  provosts  at  a  time. 
The  burghers  no  longer  found  justice  or  security  in  the  city 
where  the  king  resided.  At  his  return  from  his  first  crusade, 
Louis  recognized  the  necessity  for  applying  a  remedy  to  this 
evil ;  the  provostship  ceased  to  be  a  purchasable  office ;  and  he 
made  it  separate  from  the  receivership  of  the  royal  domain.  In 
1258  he  chose  as  provost  Stephen  Boileau,  a  burgher  of  note  and 
esteem  in  Paris ;  and  in  order  to  give  this  magistrate  the  author- 
ity of  which  he  had  need,  the  king  sometimes  came  and  sat 
beside  him  when  he  was  administering  justice  at  the  Chatelet. 
Stephen  Boileau  justified  the  king's  confidence,  and  maintained 
so  strict  a  police  that  he  had  his  own  godson  hanged  for  theft. 
His  administrative  foresight  was  equal  to  his  judicial  severity. 
He  established  registers  wherein  were  to  be  inscribed  the  rules 
habitually  followed  in  respect  of  the  organization  and  work  of 


142  POPULAR   HISTORY  OF  FRANCE.     [Chap.  XVIII. 

the  different  corporations  of  artisans,  the  tariffs  of  the  dues 
charged,  in  the  name  of  the  king,  upon  the  admittance  of  pro- 
visions and  merchandise,  and  the  titles  on  which  the  abbots  and 
other  lords  founded  the  privileges  they  enjoyed  within  the  walls 
of  Paris.  The  corporations  of  artisans,  represented  by  their 
sworn  masters  or  prud'hommes,  appeared  one  after  the  other  be- 
fore the  provost  to  make  declaration  of  the  usages  in  practice 
amongst  their  communities,  and  to  have  them  registered  in  the 
book  prepared  for  that  purpose.  This  collection  of  regulations 
relating  to  the  arts  and  trades  of  Paris  in  the  thirteenth  century, 
known  under  the  name  of  Livre  des  Metiers  di'Etienne  Boileau, 
is  the  earliest  monument  of  industrial  statistics  drawn  up  by  the 
French  administration,  and  it  was  inserted,  for  the  first  time  in 
its  entirety,  in  1837,  amongst  the  Collection  des  Documents  re- 
latifs  d  VHlstoire  de  France,  published  during  M.  Guizot's  min- 
istry of  public  instruction. 

St.  Louis  would  be  but  very  incompletely  understood  if  we 
considered  him  only  in  his  political  and  kingly  aspect ;  we  must 
penetrate  into  his  private  life,  and  observe  his  personal  inter- 
course with  his  family,  his  household,  and  his  people,  if  we 
would  properly  understand  and  appreciate  all  the  originality  and 
moral  worth  of  his  character  and  his  life.  Mention  has  already 
been  made  of  his  relations  towards  the  two  queens,  his  mother 
and  his  wife  ;  and,  difficult  as  they  were,  they  were  nevertheless 
always  exemplary.  Louis  was  a  model  of  conjugal  fidelity,  as 
well  as  of  filial  piety.  He  had  by  Queen  Marguerite  eleven 
children,  six  sons  and  five  daughters  ;  he  loved  her  tenderly,  he 
never  severed  himself  from  her,  and  the  modest  courage  she  dis- 
played in  the  first  crusade  rendered  her  still  dearer  to  him.  But 
he  was  not  blind  to  her  ambitious  tendencies,  and  to  the  insuffi- 
ciency of  her  qualifications  for  government.  When  he  made 
ready  for  his  second  crusade,  not  only  did  he  not  confide  to 
Queen  Marguerite  the  regency  of  the  kingdom,  but  he  even 
took  care  to  regulate  her  expenses,  and  to  curb  her  passion  for 
authority.     He  forbade  her  to  accept  any  present  for  herself  or 


Chap.  XVIIL]       THE  KINGSHIP   IX   FRANCE.  143 

her  children,  to  lay  any  commands  upon  the  officers  of  justice, 
and  to  choose  any  one  for  her  service,  or  for  that  of  her  chil- 
dren, without  the  consent  of  the  council  of  the  regency.  And 
he  had  reason  so  to  act ;  for,  about  this  same  time,  Queen  Mar- 
guerite, emulous  of  holding  in  the  state  the  same  place  that  had 
been  occupied  by  Queen  Blanche,  was  giving  all  her  thoughts  to 
what  her  situation  would  be  after  her  husband's  death,  and  was 
coaxing  her  eldest  son,  Philip,  then  sixteen  years  old,  to  make 
her  a  promise  on  oath  to  remain  under  her  guardianship  up  to 
thirty  years  of  age,  to  take  to  himself  no  counsellor  without  her 
approval,  to  reveal  to  her  all  designs  which  might  be  formed 
against  her,  to  conclude  no  treaty  with  his  uncle,  Charles  of 
Anjou,  King  of  Sicily,  and  to  keep  as  a  secret  the  oath  she  was 
thus  making  him  take.  Louis  was  probably  informed  of  this 
strange  promise  by  his  young  son  Philip  himself,  who  got  himself 
released  from  it  by  Pope  Urban  IV.  At  any  rate,  the  king  had  a 
foreshadowing  of  Queen  Marguerite's  inclinations,  and  took  pre- 
cautions for  rendering  them  harmless  to  the  crown  and  the  state. 
As  for  his  children,  Louis  occupied  himself  in  thought  and 
deed  with  their  education  and  their  future,  moral  and  social, 
showing  as  much  affection  and  assiduity  as  could  have  been  dis- 
played by  any  father  of  a  family,  even  the  most  devoted  to  this 
single  task.  "  After  supper  they  followed  him  into  his  chamber, 
where  he  made  them  sit  down  around  him  ;  he  instructed  them 
in  their  duties,  and  then  sent  them  away  to  bed.  He  drew  their 
particular  attention  to  the  good  and  evil  deeds  of  princes.  He, 
moreover,  went  to  see  them  in  their  own  apartment  when  he 
had  any  leisure,  informed  himself  as  to  the  progress  they  were 
making,  and,  like  another  Tobias,  gave  them  excellent  instruc- 
tions. .  .  .  On  Holy  Thursday  his  sons  used  to  wash,  just  as  he 
used,  the  feet  of  thirteen  of  the  poor,  give  them  a  considerable 
sum  as  alms,  and  then  wait  upon  them  at  table.  The  king  hav- 
ing been  minded  to  carry  the  first  of  the  poor  souls  to  the  Hotel- 
Dieu,  at  Compiegne,  with  the  assistance  of  his  son-in-law,  King 
Theobald  of  Navarre,  whom  he  loved  as  a  son,  his  two  eldest 


144  POPULAR   HISTORY    OF   FRANCE.     [Chap.  XVIII. 

sons,  Louis  and  Philip,  carried  the  second  thither."  They  were 
wont  to  behave  towards  him  in  the  most  respectful  manner.  He 
would  have  all  of  them,  even  Theobald,  yield  him  strict  obe- 
dience in  that  which  he  enjoined  upon  them.  He  desired  anx- 
iously that  the  three  children  born  to  him  in  the  East,  during 
his  first  crusade,  John  Tristan,  Peter,  and  Blanche,  and  even 
Isabel,  his  eldest  daughter,  should  enter  upon  the  cloistered  life, 
which  he  looked  upon  as  the  safest  for  their  salvation.  He  ex- 
horted them  thereto,  especially  his  daughter  Isabel,  many  and 
many  a  time,  in  letters  equally  tender  and  pious ;  but,  as  they 
testified  no  taste  for  it,  he  made  no  attempt  to  force  their  incli- 
nations, and  concerned  himself  only  about  having  them  well 
married,  not  forgetting  to  give  them  good  appanages,  and,  for 
their  life  in  the  world,  the  most  judicious  counsels.  The  in- 
structions, written  with  his  own  hand  in  French,  which  he  com- 
mitted to  his  eldest  son,  Philip,  as  soon  as  he  found  himself  so 
seriously  ill  before  Tunis,  are  a  model  of  virtue,  wisdom,  and 
tenderness  on  the  part  of  a  father,  a  king,  and  a  Christian. 

Pass  we  from  the  king's  family  to  the  king's  household,  and 
from  the  children  to  the  servitors  of  St.  Louis.  We  have  here 
no  longer  the  powerful  tie  of  blood,  and  of  that  feeling,  at  the 
same  time  personal  and  yet  disinterested,  which  is  experienced 
by  parents  on  seeing  themselves  living  over  again  in  their  chil- 
dren. Far  weaker  motives,  mere  kindness  and  custom,  unite 
masters  to  their  servants,  and  stamp  a  moral  character  upon  the 
relations  between  them ;  but  with  St.  Louis,  so  great  was  his 
kindness,  that  it  resembled  affection,  and  caused  affection  to 
spring  up  in  the  hearts  of  those  who  were  the  objects  of  it.  At 
the  same  time  that  he  required  in  his  servitors  an  almost  austere 
morality,  he  readily  passed  over  in  silence  their  little  faults,  and 
treated  them,  in  such  cases,  not  only  with  mildness,  but  with 
that  consideration  which,  in  the  humblest  conditions,  satisfies 
the  self-respect  of  people,  and  elevates  them  in  their  own  eyes. 
"  Louis  used  to  visit  his  domestics  when  they  were  ill ;  and 
when  they  died  he  never  failed  to  pray  for  them,  and  to  com- 


Chap.  XVIII.]        THE  KINGSHIP  IN   FRANCE.  145 

mend  them  to  the  prayers  of  the  faithful.  He  had  the  mass  for 
the  dead,  which  it  was  his  custom  to  hear  every  day,  sung  for 
them."  He  had  taken  back  an  old  servitor  of  his  grandfather, 
Philip  Augustus,  whom  that  king  had  dismissed  because  his  fire 
sputtered,  and  John,  whose  duty  it  was  to  attend  to  it,  did  not 
know  how  to  prevent  that  slight  noise.  Louis  was,  from  time  to 
time,  subject  to  a  malady,  during  which  his  right  leg,  from  the 
ankle  to  the  calf,  became  inflamed,  as  red  as  blood,  and  painful. 
One  day,  when  he  had  an  attack  of  this  complaint,  the  king,  as 
he  lay,  wished  to  make  a  close  inspection  of  the  redness  in  his 
leg ;  as  John  was  clumsily  holding  a  lighted  candle  close  to  the 
king,  a  drop  of  hot  grease  fell  on  the  bad  leg ;  and  the  king, 
who  had  sat  up  on  his  bed,  threw  himself  back,  exclaiming, 
"  Ah !  John,  John,  my  grandfather  turned  you  out  of  his  house 
for  a  less  matter !  "  and  the  clumsiness  of  John  drew  down  upon 
him  no  other  chastisement  save  this  exclamation.  (  Vie  de  Saint 
Louis,  by  Queen  Marguerite's  confessor ;  Recueil  des  Historiens 
de  France,  t.  xx.  p.  105 ;  Vie  de  Saint  Louis,  by  Lenain  de  Tille- 
mont,  t.  v.  p.  388.) 

Far  away  from  the  king's  household  and  service,  and  without 
any  personal  connection  with  him,  a  whole  people,  the  people  of 
the  poor,  the  infirm,  the  sick,  the  wretched,  and  the  neglected 
of  every  sort  occupied  a  prominent  place  in  the  thoughts  and 
actions  of  Louis.  All  the  chroniclers  of  the  age,  all  the  histo- 
rians of  his  reign,  have  celebrated  his  charity  as  much  as  his 
piety;  and  the  philosophers  of  the  eighteenth  century  almost 
forgave  him  his  taste  for  relics,  in  consideration  of  his  benefi- 
cence. And  it  was  not  merely  legislative  and  administrative 
beneficence ;  St.  Louis  did  not  confine  himself  to  founding  and 
endowing  hospitals,  hospices,  asylums,  the  Hotel-Dieu  at  Pon- 
toise,  that  at  Vernon,  that  at  Compiegne,  and,  at  Paris,  the 
house  of  Quinze-Vingts,  for  three  hundred  blind,  but  he  did 
not  spare  his  person  in  his  beneficence,  and  regarded  no  deed  of 
charity  as  beneath  a  king's  dignity.  "  Every  day,  wherever  the 
king  went,  one  hundred  and  twenty-two  of  the  poor  received 

VOL.   II.  19 


146  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.     [Chap.  XVIII. 

each  two  loaves,  a  quart  of  wine,  meat  or  fish  for  a  good  dinner, 
and  a  Paris  denier.  The  mothers  of  families  had  a  loaf  more 
for  each  child.  Besides  these  hundred  and  twenty-two  poor 
having  out-door  relief,  thirteen  others  were  every  day  introduced 
into  the  hotel,  and  there  lived  as  the  king's  officers ;  and  three 
of  them  sat  at  table  at  the  same  time  with  the  king,  in  the  same 
hall  as  he,  and  quite  close."  .  .  .  "Many  a  time,"  says  Join- 
ville,  "  I  saw  him  cut  their  bread,  and  give  them  to  drink.  He 
asked  me  one  day  if  I  washed  the  feet  of  the  poor  on  Holy 
Thursday.  '  Sir,'  said  I,  '  what  a  benefit !  The  feet  of  those 
knaves !  Not  I.'  '  Verily,'  said  he,  '  that  is  ill  said,  for  you 
ouetfit  not  to  hold  in  disdain  what  God  did  for  our  instruction. 
I  pray  you,  therefore,  for  love  of  me  accustom  yourself  to  wash 
them.' '  Sometimes,  when  the  king  had  leisure,  he  used  to  say, 
"  Come  and  visit  the  poor  in  such  and  such  a  place,  and  let  us 
feast  them  to  their  hearts'  content."  Once  when  he  went  to 
Chateauneuf-sur-Loire,  a  poor  old  woman,  who  was  at  the  door 
of  her  cottage,  and  held  in  her  hand  a  loaf,  said  to  him,  "  Good 
king,  it  is  of  this  bread,  which  comes  of  thine  alms,  that  my 
husband,  who  lieth  sick  yonder  indoors,  doth  get  sustenance." 
The  king  took  the  bread,  saying,  "  It  is  rather  hard  bread." 
And  he  went  into  the  cottage  to  see  with  his  own  eyes  the  sick 
man.  When  he  was  visiting  the  churches  one  Holy  Friday,  at 
Compiegne,  as  he  was  going  that  day  barefoot  according  to  his 
custom,  and  distributing  alms  to  the  poor  whom  he  met,  he  per- 
ceived, on  the  yonder  side  of  a  miry  pond  which  filled  a  portion 
of  the  street,  a  leper,  who,  not  daring  to  come  near,  tried,  nev- 
ertheless, to  attract  the  king's  attention.  Louis  walked  through 
the  pond,  went  up  to  the  leper,  gave  him  some  money,  took  his 
hand  and  kissed  it.  "All  present,"  says  the  chronicler,  "  crossed 
themselves  for  admiration  at  seeing  this  holy  temerity  of  the 
king,  who  had  no  fear  of  putting  his  lips  to  a  hand  that  none 
would  have  dared  to  touch."  In  such  deeds  there  was  infinitely 
more  than  the  goodness  and  greatness  of  a  kingly  soul ;  there 
was  in  them  that  profound  Christian  sympathy  which  is  moved 


IT   IS   RATHER  HARD   BREAD. "  —  Paire  Mfl. 


Chap.  XVIII.]       THE  KINGSHIP   IN   FRANCE.  147 

at  the  sight  of  any  human  creature  suffering  severely  in  body 
or  soul,  and  which,  at  such  times,  gives  heed  to  no  fear,  shrinks 
from  no  pains,  recoils  with  no  disgust,  and  has  no  other  thought 
but  that  of  offering  some  fraternal  comfort  to  the  body  or  the 
soul  that  is  suffering. 

He  who  thus  felt  and  acted  was  no  monk,  no  prince  enwrapt 
in  mere  devoutness  and  altogether  given  up  to  works  and 
practices  of  piety ;  he  was  a  knight,  a  warrior,  a  politician, 
a  true  king,  who  attended  to  the  duties  of  authority  as  well 
as  to  those  of  charity,  and  who  won  respect  from  his  nearest 
friends  as  well  as  from  strangers,  whilst  astonishing  them  at 
one  time  by  his  bursts  of  mystic  piety  and  monastic  austerity, 
at  another  by  his  flashes  of  the  ruler's  spirit  and  his  judicious 
independence,  even  towards  the  representatives  of  the  faith 
and  Church  with  whom  he  was  in  sympathy.  "  He  passed  for 
the  wisest  man  in  all  his  council."  In  difficult  matters  and  on 
grave  occasions  none  formed  a  judgment  with  more  sagacity, 
and  what  his  intellect  so  well  apprehended  he  expressed  with 
a  great  deal  of  propriety  and  grace.  He  was,  in  conversation, 
the  nicest  and  most  agreeable  of  men  ;  "he  was  gay,"  says 
Joinville,  "  and  when  we  were  private  at  court,  he  used  to 
sit  at  the  foot  of  his  bed;  and  when  the  preachers  and  cor- 
deliers who  were  there  spoke  to  him  of  a  book  he  would  like 
to  hear,  he  said  to  them,  4  Nay,  you  shall  not  read  to  me,  for 
there  is  no  book  so  good,  after  dinner,  as  talk  ad  libitum,  that 
is,  every  one  saying  what  he  pleases.'  "  Not  that  he  was  at 
all  averse  from  books  and  literates  :  "  He  was  sometimes  present 
at  the  discourses  and  disputations  of  the  University;  but  he 
took  care  to  search  out  for  himself  the  truth  in  the  word  of 
God  and  in  the  traditions  of  the  Church.  .  .  .  Having  found 
out,  during  his  travels  in  the  East,  that  a  Saracenic  sultan 
had  collected  a  quantity  of  books  for  the  service  of  the  philoso- 
phers of  his  sect,  he  was  shamed  to  see  that  Christians  had 
less  zeal  for  getting  instructed  in  the  truth  than  infidels  had 
for  getting  themselves  made  dexterous  in  falsehood;  so  much 


148  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.     [Chap.  XVIII. 

so  that,  after  his  return  to  France,  he  had  search  made  in  the 
abbeys  for  all  the  genuine  works  of  St.  Augustin,  St.  Ambrose, 
St.  Jerome,  St.  Gregory,  and  other  orthodox  teachers,  and, 
having  caused  copies  of  them  to  be  made,  he  had  them  placed 
in  the  treasury  of  Sainte-Chapelle.  He  used  to  read  them 
when  he  had  any  leisure,  and  he  readily  lent  them  to  those 
who  might  get  profit  from  them  for  themselves  or  for  others. 
Sometimes,  at  the  end  of  the  afternoon  meal,  he  sent  for  pious 
persons  with  whom  he  conversed  about  God,  about  the  stories 
in  the  Bible  and  the  histories  of  the  saints,  or  about  the  lives 
of  the  Fathers."  He  had  a  particular  friendship  for  the  learned 
Robert  of  Sorbon,  founder  of  the  Sorbonne,  whose  idea  was  a 
society  of  secular  ecclesiastics,  who,  living  in  common  and  hav- 
ing the  necessaries  of  life,  should  give  themselves  up  entirely 
to  study  and  gratuitous  teaching.  Not  only  did  St.  Louis  give 
him  every  facility  and  every  aid  necessary  for  the  establishment 
of  his  learned  college,  but  he  made  him  one  of  his  chaplains, 
and  often  invited  him  to  his  presence  and  his  table  in  order  to 
enjoy  his  conversation.  "  One  day  it  happened,"  says  Joinville, 
"  that  Master  Robert  was  taking  his  meal  beside  me,  and  we 
were  talking  low.  The  king  reproved  us,  and  said,  '  Speak  up, 
for  your  company  think  that  you  may  be  talking  evil  of  them. 
If  you  speak,  at  meals,  of  things  which  should  please  us,  speak 
up  ;  if  not,  be  silent.' '  Another  day,  at  one  of  their  reunions, 
with  the  king  in  their  midst,  Robert  of  Sorbon  reproached 
Joinville  with  being  "  more  bravely  clad  than  the  king ;  for," 
said  he,  "  you  do  dress  in  furs  and  green  cloth,  which  the  king 
doth  not."  Joinville  defended  himself  vigorously,  in  his  turn 
attacking  Robert  for  the  elegance  of  his  dress.  The  king  took 
the  learned  doctor's  part,  and  when  he  had  gone,  "My  lord  the 
king,"  says  Joinville,  "  called  his  son,  my  lord  Philip,  and  King 
Theobald,  sat  him  down  at  the  entrance  of  his  oratory,  placed 
his  hand  on  the  ground  and  said,  '  Sit  ye  down  here  close  by 
me,  that  we  be  not  overheard;'  and  then  he  told  me  that  he 
had  called  us  in  order  to  confess  to  us  that  he  had  wrongfully 


Chap.  XVIII.]       THE   KINGSHIP   IN   FRANCE.  149 

taken  the  part  of  Master  Robert ;  for,  just  as  the  seneschal 
[Joinville]  saith,  ye  ought  to  be  well  and  decently  clad,  because 
your  womankind  will  love  you  the  better  for  it,  and  your  people 
will  prize  you  the  more  ;  for,  saith  the  wise  man,  it  is  right  so 
to  bedeck  one's  self  with  garments  and  armor  that  the  proper 
men  of  this  world  say  not  that  there  is  too  much  made  thereof, 
nor  the  young  folk  too  little."  (Joinville,  ch.  cxxxv.  p.  301 ; 
ch.  v.  and  vi.  pp.  12-16  ;  t.  v.  pp.  326,  364,  and  368.) 

Assuredly  there  was  enough  in  such  and  so  free  an  exercise 
of  mind,  in  such  a  rich  abundance  of  thoughts  and  sentiments, 
in  such  a  religious,  political,  and  domestic  life,  to  occupy  and 
satisfy  a  soul  full  of  energy  and  power*  But,  as  has  already 
been  said,  an  idea  cherished  with  a  lasting  and  supreme  passion, 
the  idea  of  the  crusade,  took  entire  possession  of  St.  Louis. 
For  seven  years,  after  his  return  from  the  East,  from  1254 
to  1261,  he  appeared  to  think  no  more  of  it ;  and  there  is  noth- 
ing to  show  that  he  spoke  of  it  even  to  his  most  intimate  con- 
fidants. But,  in  spite  of  apparent  tranquillity,  he  lived,  so 
far,  in  a  ferment  of  imagination  and  a  continual  fever,  resem- 
bling in  that  respect,  though  the  end  aimed  at  was  different, 
those  great  men,  ambitious  warriors  or  politicians,  of  natures 
forever  at  boiling  point,  for  whom  nothing  is  sufficient,  and 
who  are  constantly  fostering,  beyond  the  ordinary  course  of 
events,  some  vast  and  strange  desire,  the  accomplishment  of 
which  becomes  for  them  a  fixed  idea  and  an  insatiable  passion. 
As  Alexander  and  Napoleon  were  incessantly  forming  some 
new  design,  or,  to  speak  more  correctly,  some  new  dream  of 
conquest  and  dominion,  in  the  same  way  St.  Louis,  in  his  pious 
ardor,  never  ceased  to  aspire  to  a  re-entry  of  Jerusalem,  to 
the  deliverance  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre,  and  to  the  victory  of 
Christianity  over  Mohammedanism  in  the  East,  always  flatter- 
ing himself  that  some  favorable  circumstance  would  recall 
him  to  his  interrupted  work.  It  has  already  been  told,  at 
the  termination,  in  the  preceding  chapter,  of  the  crusaders' 
history,  how  he  had  reason  to  suppose,  in  1261,  that  circum- 


150  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.     [Chap.  XVIII. 

stances  were  responding  to  his  desire ;  how  he  first  of  all 
prepared,  noiselessly  and  patiently,  for  his  second  crusade ; 
how,  after  seven  years'  labor,  less  and  less  concealed  as  days 
went  on,  he  proclaimed  his  purpose,  and  swore  to  accomplish 
it  in  the  following  year ;  and  how  at  last,  in  the  month  of 
March,  1270,  against  the  will  of  France,  of  the  pope,  and 
even  of  the  majority  of  his  comrades,  he  actually  set  out  —  to 
go  and  die,  on  the  25th  of  the  following  August,  before  Tunis, 
without  having  dealt  the  Mussulmans  of  the  East  even  the 
shadow  of  an  effectual  blow,  having  no  strength  to  do  more 
than  utter,  from  time  to  time,  as  he  raised  himself  on  his  bed, 
the  cry  of  Jerusalem  !  Jerusalem  !  and,  at  the  last  moment,  as 
he  lay  in  sackcloth  and  ashes,  pronouncing  merely  these  parting 
words:  "  Father,  after  the  example  of  our  Divine  Master,  into 
Thy  hands  I  commend  my  spirit ! ' '  Even  the  crusader  was  ex- 
tinct in  St.  Louis  ;  and  only  the  Christian  remained. 

The  world  has  seen  upon  the  throne  greater  captains,  more 
profound  politicians,  vaster  and  more  brilliant  intellects,  princes 
who  have  exercised,  beyond  their  own  lifetime,  a  more  powerful 
and  a  more  lasting  influence  than  St.  Louis  ;  but  it  has  never 
seen  a  rarer  king,  never  seen  a  man  who  could  possess,  as  he 
did,  sovereign  power  without  contracting  the  passions  and 
vices  natural  to  it,  and  who,  in  this  respect,  displayed  in  his 
government  human  virtues  exalted  to  the  height  of  Christian. 
For  all  his  moral  sympathy,  and  superior  as  he  was  to  his  age, 
St.  Louis,  nevertheless,  shared,  and  even  helped  to  prolong,  two 
of  its  greatest  mistakes ;  as  a  Christian  he  misconceived  the 
rights  of  conscience  in  respect  of  religion,  and,  as  a  king,  he 
brought  upon  his  people  deplorable  evils  and  perils  for  the 
sake  of  a  fruitless  enterprise.  War  against  religious  liberty 
was,  for  a  long  course  of  ages,  the  crime  of  Christian  com- 
munities and  the  source  of  the  most  cruel  evils  as  well  as  of 
the  most  formidable  irreligious  reactions  the  world  has  had  to 
undergo.  The  thirteenth  century  was  the  culminating  period 
of  this  fatal  notion  and  the  sanction  of  it   conferred  by  civil 


Chap.  XVIII.]      THE  KINGSHIP   IN   FRANCE.  151 

legislation  as  well  as  ecclesiastical  teaching.  St.  Louis  joined, 
so  far,  with  sincere  conviction,  in  the  general  and  ruling  idea 
of  his  age ;  and  the  jumbled  code  which  bears  the  name  of 
Etablissements  de  Saint  Louis,  and  in  which  there  are  collected 
many  ordinances  anterior  or  posterior  to  his  reign,  formally 
condemns  heretics  to  "  death,  and  bids  the  civil  judges  to  see 
to  the  execution,  in  this  respect,  of  the  bishops'  sentences.  In 
1255  St.  Louis  himself  demanded  of  Pope  Alexander  IV.  leave 
for  the  Dominicans  and  Franciscans  to  exercise,  throughout  the 
whole  kingdom,  the  inquisition  already  established,  on  account 
of  the  Albigensians,  in  the  old  domains  of  the  Counts  of  Tou- 
louse. The  bishops,  it  is  true,  were  to  be  consulted  before 
condemnation  could  be  pronounced  by  the  inquisitors  against 
a  heretic ;  but  that  was  a  mark  of  respect  for  the  episcopate 
and  for  the  rights  of  the  Gallican  Church  rather  than  a 
guarantee  for  liberty  of  conscience  ;  and  such  was  St.  Louis's 
feeling  upon  this  subject,  that  liberty,  or  rather  the  most 
limited  justice,  was  less  to  be  expected  from  the  kingship  than 
from  the  episcopate.  St.  Louis's  extreme  severity  towards  what 
he  called  the  knavish  oath  (yilain  servient*),  that  is,  blasphemy, 
an  offence  for  which  there  is  no  definition  save  what  is  con- 
tained "in  the  bare  name  of  it,  is,  perhaps,  the  most  striking 
indication  of  the  state  of  men's  minds,  and  especially  of  the 
king's,  in  this  respect.  Every  blasphemer  was  to  receive  on 
his  mouth  the  imprint  of  a  red-hot  iron.  "  One  day  the  king 
had  a  burgher  of  Paris  branded  in  this  way;  and  violent 
murmurs  were  raised  in  the  capital  and  came  to  the  king's  ears. 
He  responded  by  declaring  that  he  wished  a  like  brand  might 
mark  his  lips,  and  that  he  might  bear  the  shame  of  it  all  his 
life,  if  only  the  vice  of  blasphemy  might  disappear  from  his 
kingdom.  Some  time  afterwards,  having  had  a  work  of  great 
public  utility  executed,  he  received,  on  that  occasion,  from 
the  landlords  of  Paris  numerous  expressions  of  gratitude.  4I 
expect,'  said  he,  4  a  greater  recompense  from  the  Lord  for  the 
curses  brought   upon  me   by   that  brand  inflicted   upon  bias- 


152  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.     [Chap.  XVIII. 

phemers  than  for  the  blessings  I  get  because  of  this  act  of 
general  utility.'  "  (Joinville,  chap,  cxxxviii.  ;  Mstoire  de  Saint 
Louis,  by  M.  Felix  Faure,  t.  ii.  p.  300.) 

Of  all  human  errors  those  most  in  vogue  are  the  most  danger- 
ous, for  they  are  just  those  from  which  the  most  superior  minds 
have  the  greatest  difficulty  in  preserving  themselves.  It  is 
impossible  to  see,  without  horror,  into  what  aberrations  of 
reason  and  of  moral  sense  men  otherwise  most  enlightened 
and  virtuous  may  be  led  away  by  the  predominant  ideas  of 
their  age.  And  the  horror  becomes  still  greater  when  a  dis- 
covery is  made  of  the  iniquities,  sufferings,  and  calamities, 
public  and  private,  consequent  upon  the  admission  of  such 
aberrations  amongst  the  choice  spirits  of  the  period.  In  the 
matter  of  religious  liberty,  St.  Louis  is  a  striking  example  of 
the  vagaries  which  may  be  fallen  into,  under  the  sway  of 
public  feeling,  by  the  most  equitable  of  minds  and  the  most 
scrupulous  of  consciences.  A  solemn  warning,  in  times  of  great 
intellectual  and  popular  ferment,  for  those  men  whose  hearts 
are  set  on  independence  in  their  thoughts  as  well  as  in  their 
conduct,  and  whose  only  object  is  justice  and  truth. 

As  for  the  crusades,  the  situation  of  Louis  was  with  respect 
to  them  quite  different  and  his  responsibility  far  more  personal. 
The  crusades  had  certainly,  in  their  origin,  been  the  sponta- 
neous and  universal  impulse  of  Christian  Europe  towards  an 
object  lofty,  disinterested,  and  worthy  of  the  devotion  of 
men ;  and  St.  Louis  was,  without  any  doubt,  the  most  lofty, 
disinterested,  and  heroic  representative  of  this  grand  Chris- 
tian movement.  But  towards  the  middle  of  the  thirteenth 
century  the  moral  complexion  of  the  crusades  had  already 
undergone  great  alteration;  the  salutary  effect  they  were  to 
have  exercised  for  the  advancement  of  European  civilization 
still  loomed  obscurely  in  the  distance ;  whilst  their  evil  results 
were  already  clearly  manifesting  themselves,  and  they  had  no 
longer  that  beauty  lent  by  spontaneous  and  general  feeling 
which  had  been  their  strength  and  their  apology.     Weariness, 


Chap.  XVIII.]        THE   KINGSHIP   IN   FRANCE.  153 

doubt,  and  common  sense  had,  so  far  as  this  matter  was  con- 
cerned, done  their  work  amongst  all  classes  of  the  feudal  com- 
munity. As  Sire  de  Joinville,  so  also  had  many  knights,  honest 
burghers,  and  simple  country-folks  recognized  the  flaws  in 
the  enterprise,  and  felt,  no  more  belief  in  its  success.  It  is 
the  glory  of  St.  Louis  that  he  was,  in  the  thirteenth  century, 
the  faithful  and  virtuous  representative  of  the  crusade  such  as 
it  was  when  it  sprang  from  the  womb  of  united  Christendom, 
and  when  Godfrey  de  Bouillon  was  its  leader  at  the  end  of  the 
eleventh.  It  was  the  misdemeanor  of  St.  Louis,  and  a  great  error 
in  his  judgment,  that  he  prolonged,  by  his  blindly  prejudiced 
obstinacy,  a  movement  which  was  more  and  more  inopportune 
and  illegitimate,  for  it  was  becoming  day  by  day  more  factitious 
and  more  inane. 

In  the  long  line  of  kings  of  France,  called  Most  Christian 
Kings,  only  two,  Charlemagne  and  Louis  IX.,  have  received  the 
still  more  august  title  of  Saint.  As  for  Charlemagne,  we  must 
not  be  too  exacting  in  the  way  of  proofs  of  his  legal  right  to 
that  title  in  the  Catholic  Church ;  he  was  canonized,  in  1165  or 
1166,  only  by  the  anti-pope  Pascal  III.,  through  the  influence 
of  Frederick  Barbarossa  ;  and  since  that  time,  the  canonization 
of  Charlemagne  has  never  been  officially  allowed  and  declared 
by  any  popes  recognized  as  legitimate.  They  tolerated  and 
tacitly  admitted  it,  on  account,  no  doubt,  of  the  services  ren- 
dered by  Charlemagne  to  the  papacy.  But  Charlemagne  had 
ardent  and  influential  admirers  outside  the  pale  of  popes  and 
emperors ;  he  was  the  great  man  and  the  popular  hero  of  the 
Germanic  race  in  Western  Europe.  His  saintship  was  welcomed 
with  acclamation  in  a  great  part  of  Germany,  where  it  had 
always  been  religiously  kept  up.  From  the  earliest  date  of  the 
University  of  Paris,  he  had  been  the  patron  there  of  all  students 
of  the  German  race.  In  France,  nevertheless,  his  position  as  a 
saint  was  still  obscure  and  doubtful,  when  Louis  XL,  towards 
the  end  of  the  fifteenth  century,  by  some  motive  now  difficult 
to   unravel,  but  probably   in   order   to   take   from  his   enemy, 

VOL.  II.  20 


154  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.     [Chap.  XVIII. 

Charles  the  Rash,  Duke  of  Burgundy,  who  was  in  possession 
of  the  fairest  provinces  of  Charlemagne's  empire,  the  exclusive 
privilege  of  so  great  a  memory,  ordained  that  there  should  be 
rendered  to  the  illustrious  emperor  the  honors  due  to  the  saints ; 
and  he  appointed  the  28th  of  January  for  his  feast-day,  with  a 
threat  of  the  penalty  of  death  against  all  who  should  refuse 
conformity  with  the  order.  Neither  the  command  nor  the 
threat  of  Louis  XL  had  any  great  effect.  It  does  not  appear 
that,  in  the  Church  of  France,  the  saintship  of  Charlemagne 
was  any  the  more  generally  admitted  and  kept  up ;  but  the 
University  of  Paris  faithfully  maintained  its  traditions,  and 
some  two  centuries  after  Louis  XL,  in  1661,  without  expressly 
giving  to  Charlemagne  the  title  of  saint,  it  loudly  proclaimed 
him  its  patron,  and  made  his  feast-day  an  annual  and  solemn 
institution,  which,  in  spite  of  some  hesitation  on  the  part  of 
the  parliament  of  Paris,  and  in  spite  of  the  revolutions  of  our 
time,  still  exists  as  the  grand  feast-day  throughout  the  area  of 
our  classical  studies.  The  University  of  France  repaid  Charle- 
magne for  the  service  she  had  received  from  him  ;  she  pro- 
tected his  saintship  as  he  had  protected  her  schools  and  her 
scholars. 

The  saintship  of  Louis  IX.  was  not  the  object  of  such  doubt, 
and  had  no  such  need  of  learned  and  determined  protectors. 
Claimed  as  it  was  on  the  very  morrow  of  his  death,  not  only  by 
his  son  Philip  III.,  called  The  Bold,  and  by  the  barons  and 
prelates  of  the  kingdom,  but  also  by  the  public  voice  of  France 
and  of  Europe,  it  at  once  became  the  subject  of  investigations 
and  deliberations  on  the  part  of  the  Holy  See.  For  twenty-four 
years,  new  popes,  filling  in  rapid  succession  the  chair  of  St. 
Peter  (Gregory  X.,  Innocent  V.,  John  XXL,  Nicholas  III., 
Martin  IV.,  Honorius  IV.,  Nicholas  IV.,  St.  Celestine  V.,  and 
Boniface  VIII.) ,  prosecuted  the  customary  inquiries  touching 
the  faith  and  life,  the  virtues  and  miracles,  of  the  late  king ;  and 
it  was  Boniface  VIII.,  the  pope  destined  to  carry  on  against 
Philip  the  Handsome,  grandson  of  St.  Louis,  the  most  violent 


Chap.  XVIII.]        THE  KINGSHIP   IN   FRANCE.  155 

of  struggles,  who  decreed,  on  the  11th  of  August,  1297,  the 
canonization  of  the  most  Christian  amongst  the  kings  of  France, 
and  one  of  the  truest  Christians,  king  or  simple,  in  France  and 
in  Europe. 

St.  Louis  was  succeeded  by  his  son,  Philip  III.,  a  prince,  no 
doubt,  of  some  personal  valor,  since  he  has  retained  in  history 
the  nickname  of  The  Bold,  but  not  otherwise  beyond  medi- 
ocrity. His  reign  had  an  unfortunate  beginning.  After  having 
passed  several  months  before  Tunis,  in  slack  and  unsuccessful 
continuation  of  his  father's  crusade,  he  gave  it  up,  and  re- 
embarked  in  November,  1270,  with  the  remnants  of  an  army 
anxious  to  quit  "that  accursed  land,"  wrote  one  of  the  cru- 
saders, "  where  we  languish  rather  than  live,  exposed  to  tor- 
ments of  dust,  fury  of  winds,  corruption  of  atmosphere,  and 
putrefaction  of  corpses.' '  A  tempest  caught  the  fleet  on  the 
coast  of  Sicily  ;  and  Philip  lost  by  it  several  vessels,  four  or  five 
thousand  men,  and  all  the  money  he  had  received  from  the  Mus- 
sulmans of  Tunis  as  the  price  of  his  departure.  Whilst  passing 
through  Italy,  at  Cosenza,  his  wife,  Isabel  of  Aragon,  six  months 
gone  with  child,  fell  from  her  horse,  was  delivered  of  a  child 
which  lived  barely  a  few  hours,  and  died  herself  a  day  or  two 
afterwards,  leaving  her  husband  almost  as  sick  as  sad.  He  at 
last  arrived  at  Paris,  on  the  21st  of  May,  1271,  bringing  back 
with  him  five  royal  biers,  that  of  his  father,  that  of  his  brother, 
John  Tristan,  Count  of  Nevers,  that  of  his  brother-in-law,  Theo- 
bald King  of  Navarre,  that  of  his  wife,  and  that  of  his  son.  The 
day  after  his  arrival  he  conducted  them  all  in  state  to  the  Abbey 
of  St.  Denis,  and  was  crowned  at  Rheims,  not  until  the  30th  of 
August  following.  His  reign,  which  lasted  fifteen  years,  was  a 
period  of  neither  repose  nor  glory.  He  engaged  in  war  several 
times  over  in  Southern  France  and  in  the  north  of  Spain,  in  1272, 
against  Roger  Bernard,  Count  of  Foix,  and  in  1285  against  Don 
Pedro  III.,  King  of  Aragon,  attempting  conquests  and  gaining 
victories,  but  becoming  easily  disgusted  with  his  enterprises  and 
gaining   no   result   of  importance  or  durability.      Without  his 


156  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.     [Chap.  XVIII. 

taking  himself  any  official  or  active  part  in  the  matter,  the  name 
and  credit  of  France  were  more  than  once  compromised  in  the 
affairs  of  Italy  through  the  continual  wars  and  intrigues  of  his 
uncle  Charles  of  Anjou,  King  of  Sicily,  who  was  just  as  ambi- 
tious, just  as  turbulent,  and  just  as  tyrannical  as  his  brother  St. 
Louis  was  scrupulous,  temperate,  and  just.  It  was  in  the  reign 
of  Philip  the  Bold  that  there  took  place  in  Sicily,  on  the  30th 
of  March,  1282,  that  notorious  massacre  of  the  French  which  is 
known  by  the  name  of  Sicilian  Vespers,  which  was  provoked  by 
the  unbridled  excesses  of  Charles  of  Anjou's  comrades,  and 
through  which  many  noble  French  families  had  to  suffer  cruelly. 
At  the  same  time,  the  celebrated  Italian  Admiral  Roger  de 
Loria  inflicted,  by  sea,  on  the  French  party  in  Italy,  the  Pro- 
vencal navy,  and  the  army  of  Philip  the  Bold,  who  was  engaged 
upon  incursions  into  Spain,  considerable  reverses  and  losses.  At 
the  same  period  the  foundations  were  being  laid  in  Germany  and 
in  the  north  of  Italy,  in  the  person  of  Rudolph  of  Hapsburg, 
elected  emperor,  of  the  greatness  reached  by  the  House  of  Aus- 
tria, which  was  destined  to  be  so  formidable  a  rival  to  France. 
The  government  of  Philip  III.  showed  hardly  more  ability  at 
home  than  in  Europe ;  not  that  the  king  was  himself  violent, 
tyrannical,  greedy  of  power  or  money,  and  unpopular  ;  he  was, 
on  the  contrary,  honorable,  moderate  in  respect  of  his  personal 
claims,  simple  in  his  manners,  sincerely  pious  and  gentle 
towards  the  humble  ;  but  he  was  at  the  same  time  weak,  cred- 
ulous, very  illiterate,  say  the  chroniclers,  and  without  penetra- 
tion, foresight,  or  intelligent  and  determined  will.  He  fell 
under  the  influence  of  an  inferior  servant  of  his  house,  Peter  de 
la  Brosse,  who  had  been  surgeon  and  barber  first  of  all  to  St. 
Louis  and  then  to  Philip  III.,  who  made  him,  before  long,  s 
chancellor  and  familiar  counsellor.  Being,  though  a  skilful  and 
active  intriguer,  entirely  concerned  with  his  own  personal  for- 
tunes and  those  of  his  family,  this  barber-mushroom  was  soon  a 
mark  for  the  jealousy  and  the  attacks  of  the  great  lords  of  the 
court.     And  he  joined  issue   with   them,   and  even   with  the 


*/ 


s. 


S. 


2 


■r. 


Chap.  XVIII.]      THE  KINGSHIP   IN   FRANCE.  157 

young  queen,  Maria  of  Brabant,  the  second  wife  of  Philip  III. 
Accusations  of  treason,  of  poisoning  and  peculation,  were  raised 
against  him,  and,  in  1276,  he  was  hanged  at  Paris,  on  the 
thieves'  gibbet,  in  presence  of  the  Dukes  of  Burgundy  and  Bra- 
bant, the  Count  of  Artois,  and  many  other  personages  of  note, 
who  took  pleasure  in  witnessing  his  execution.  His  condemna- 
tion, "the  cause  of  which  remained  unknown  to  the  people," 
says  the  chronicler  William  of  Nangis,  "  was  a  great  source  of 
astonishment  and  grumbling."  Peter  de  la  Brosse  was  one  of 
the  first  examples,  in  French  history,  of  those  favorites  who  did 
not  understand  that,  if  the  scandal  caused  by  their  elevation 
were  not  to  entail  their  ruin,  it  was  incumbent  upon  them  to 
be  great  men. 

In  spite  of  the  want  of  ability  and  the  weakness  conspicuous 
in  the  government  of  Philip  the  Bold,  the  kingship  in  France 
had,  in  his  reign,  better  fortunes  than  could  have  been  expected. 
The  death,  without  children,  of  his  uncle  Alphonso,  St.  Louis's 
brother,  Count  of  Poitiers  and  also  Count  of  Toulouse,  through 
his  wife,  Joan,  daughter  of  Raymond  VII.,  put  Philip  in  posses- 
sion of  those  fair  provinces.  He  at  first  possessed  the  count- 
ship  of  Toulouse  merely  with  the  title  of  count,  and  as  a  private 
domain  which  was  not  definitively  incorporated  with  the  crown 
of  France  until  a  century  later.  Certain  disputes  arose  between 
England  and  France  in  respect  of  this  great  inheritance  ;  and 
Philip  ended  them  by  ceding  Agenois  to  Edward  I.,  King  of  Eng- 
land, and  keeping  Quercy.  He  also  ceded  to  Pope  Urban  IV. 
the  county  of  Venaissin,  with  its  capital  Avignon,  which  the  court 
of  Rome  claimed  by  virtue  of  a  gift  from  Raymond  VII.,  Count 
of  Toulouse,  and  which,  through  a  course  of  many  disputations 
and  vicissitudes,  remained  in  possession  of  the  Holy  See  until  it 
was  reunited  to  France  on  the  19th  of  February,  1797,  by  the 
treaty  of  Tolentino.  But,  notwithstanding  these  concessions, 
when  Philip  the  Bold  died,  at  Perpignan,  the  5th  of  October, 
1285,  on  his  return  from  his  expedition  in  Aragon,  the  sove- 


158  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF  FRANCE.      [Chap.  XVIII. 

reignty  in  Southern  France,  as  far  as  the  frontiers  of  Spain,  had 
been  won  for  the  kingship  of  France. 

A  Flemish  chronicler,  a  monk  at  Egmont,  describes  the  char- 
acter of  Philip  the  Bold's  successor  in  the  following  words  :  "  A 
certain  King  of  France,  also  named  Philip,  eaten  up  by  the 
fever  of  avarice  and  cupidity."  And  that  was  not  the  only 
fever  inherent  in  Philip  IV.,  called  The  Handsome;  he  was  a 
prey  also  to  that  of  ambition,  and,  above  all,  to  that  of  power. 
When  he  mounted  the  throne,  at  seventeen  years  of  age,  he  was 
handsome,  as  his  nickname  tells  us,  cold,  taciturn,  harsh,  brave 
at  need,  but  without  fire  or  dash,  able  in  the  formation  of  his 
designs,  and  obstinate  in  prosecuting  them  by  craft  or  violence, 
by  means  of  bribery  or  cruelty,  with  wit  to  choose  and  support 
his  servants,  passionately  vindictive  against  his  enemies,  and 
faithless  and  unsympathetic  towards  his  subjects,  but  from  time 
to  time  taking  care  to  conciliate  them,  either  by  calling  them 
to  his  aid  in  his  difficulties  or  his  dangers,  or  by  giving  them 
protection  against  other  oppressors.  Never,  perhaps,  was  king 
better  served  by  circumstances  or  more  successful  in  his  enter- 
prises ;  but  he  is  the  first  of  the  Capetians  who  had  a  scanda- 
lous contempt  for  rights,  abused  success,  and  thrust  the  king- 
ship, in  France,  upon  the  high  road  of  that  arrogant  and  reck- 
less egotism  which  is  sometimes  compatible  with  ability  and 
glory,  but  which  carries  with  it  in  the  germ,  and  sooner  or  later 
brings  out  in  full  bloom,  the  native  vices  and  fatal  consequences 
of  arbitrary  and  absolute  power. 

Away  from  his  own  kingdom,  in  his  dealings  with  foreign 
countries,  Philip  the  Handsome  had  a  good  fortune,  which  his 
predecessors  had  lacked,  and  which  his  successors  lacked  still 
more.  Through  William  the  Conqueror's  settlement  in  Eng- 
land and  Henry  II.'s  marriage  with  Eleanor  of  Aquitaine,  the 
Kings  of  England  had,  by  reason  of  their  possessions  and  their 
claims  in  France,  become  the  natural  enemies  of  the  Kings  of 
France,  and  war  was  almost  incessant  between  the  two  king- 
doms.    But  Edward  I.,  King  of  England,  ever  since  his  acces- 


Chap.  XVIII.]       THE   KINGSHIP   IN   FRANCE.  159 

sion  to  the  throne,  in  1272,  had  his  ideas  fixed  upon,  and  his 
constant  efforts  directed  towards,  the  conquests  of  the  countries 
of  Wales  and  Scotland,  so  as  to  unite  under  his  sway  the  whole 
island  of  Great  Britain.  The  Welsh  and  the  Scotch,  from 
prince  to  peasant,  offered  an  energetic  resistance  in  defence  of 
their  independence  ;  and  it  was  only  after  seven  years'  warfare, 
from  1277  to  1284,  that  the  conquest  of  Wales  by  the  English 
was  accomplished,  and  the  style  of  Prince  of  Wales  became  the 
title  of  the  heir  to  the  throne  of  England.  Scotland,  in  spite  of 
dissensions  at  home,  made  a  longer  and  a  more  effectual  resist- 
ance ;  and  though  it  was  reduced  to  submission,  it  was  not  con- 
quered by  Edward  I.  Two  national  heroes,  William  Wallace 
and  Robert  Bruce,  excited  against  him  insurrections  which  were 
often  triumphant  and  always  being  renewed  ;  and  after  having, 
during  eighteen  years  of  strife,  maintained  a  precarious  domin- 
ion in  Scotland,  Edward  I.  died,  in  1307,  without  having 
acquired  the  sovereignty  of  it.  But  his  persevering  ardor  in 
this  twofold  enterprise  kept  him  out  of  war  with  France ;  he 
did  all  he  could  to  avoid  it,  and  when  the  pressure  of  circum- 
stances involved  him  in  it  for  a  time,  he  was  anxions  to  escape 
from  it.  Being  summoned  to  Paris  by  Philip  the  Handsome,  in 
1286,  to  swear  fealty  and  homage  on  account  of  his  domains 
in  France,  he  repaired  thither  with  a  good  grace,  and,  on  his 
knees  before  his  souzerain,  repeated  to  him  the  solemn  form  of 
words,  "  I  become  your  liegeman  for  the  lands  I  hold  of  you 
this  side  the  sea,  according  to  the  fashion  of  the  peace  which 
was  made  between  our  ancestors.1'  The  conditions  of  this  peace 
were  confirmed,  and,  by  a  new  treaty  between  the  two  princes, 
the  annual  payment  of  fifty  thousand  dollars  to  the  King  of  Eng- 
land, in  exchange  for  his  claims  over  Normandy,  was  guaranteed 
to  him,  and  Edward  renounced  his  pretensions  to  Quercy  in  con- 
sideration of  a  yearly  sum  of  three  thousand  livres  of  Tours.  In 
1292,  a  quarrel  and  some  hostilities  at  sea  between  the  English 
and  Norman  commercial  navies  grew  into  a  war  between  the 
two  kings ;  and  it  dragged  its  slow  length  along  for  four  years 


160  POPULAR    HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.     [Chap.  XVIII. 

in  the  south-west  of  France.  Edward  made  an  alliance,  in  the 
north,  with  the  Flemish,  who  were  engaged  in  a  deadly  struggle 
with  Philip  the  Handsome,  and  thereby  lost  Aquitaine  for  a  sea- 
son ;  hut,  in  1296,  a  truce  was  concluded  between  the  belliger- 
ents, and  though  the  importance  of  England's  commercial  rela- 
tions with  Flanders  decided  Edward  upon  resuming  his  alliance 
with  the  Flemish,  when,  in  1300,  war  broke  out  again  between 
them  and  France,  he  withdrew  from  it  three  years  afterwards, 
and  made  a  separate  peace  with  Philip  the  Handsome,  who  gave 
him  back  Aquitaine.  In  1306,  fresh  differences  arose  between 
the  two  kings ;  but  before  they  had  rekindled  the  torch  of  war, 
Edward  I.  died  at  the  opening  of  a  new  campaign  in  Scotland, 
and  his  successor,  Edward  II.,  repaired  to  Boulogne,  where  he, 
in  his  turn,  did  homage  to  Philip  the  Handsome  for  the  duchy 
of  Aquitaine,  and  espoused  Philip's  daughter  Isabel,  reputed  to 
be  the  most  beautiful  woman  in  Europe.  In  spite,  then,  of  fre- 
quent interruptions,  the  reign  of  Edward  I.  was  on  the  whole  a 
period  of  peace  between  England  and  France,  being  exempt,  at 
any  rate,  from  premeditated  and  obstinate  hostilities. 

In  Southern  France,  at  the  foot  of  the  Pyrenees,  Philip  the 
Handsome,  just  as  his  father,  Philip  the  Bold,  was,  during  the 
first  years  of  his  reign,  at  war  with  the  Kings  of  Aragon,  Al- 
phonso  III.  and  Jayme  II.  ;  but  these  campaigns,  originating  in 
purely  local  quarrels,  or  in  the  ties  between  the  descendants  of 
St.  Louis  and  of  his  brother,  Charles  of  Anjou,  King  of  the  Two 
Sicilies,  rather  than  in  furtherance  of  the  general  interests  of 
France,  were  terminated  in  1291  by  a  treaty  concluded  at  Ta- 
rascon  between  the  belligerents,  and  have  remained  without 
historical  importance. 

The  Flemish  were  the  people  with  whom  Philip  the  Hand- 
some engaged  in  and  kept  up,  during  the  whole  of  his  reign, 
with  frequent  alternations  of  defeat  and  success,  a  really  serious 
war.  In  the  thirteenth  century,  Flanders  was  the  most  populous 
ond  the  richest  country  in  Europe.  She  owed  the  fact  to  the 
briskness  of  her  manufacturing  and  commercial  undertakings, 


Chap.  XVIII.]       THE   KINGSHIP   IN   FRANCE.  161 

not  only  amongst  her  neighbors,  but  throughout  Southern  and 
Eastern  Europe,  in  Italy,  in  Spain,  in  Sweden,  in  Norway,  in 
Hungary,  in  Russia,  and  even  as  far  as  Constantinople,  where, 
as  we  have  seen,  Baldwin  I.,  Count  of  Flanders,  became,  in 
1204,  Latin  Emperor  of  the  East.  Cloth,  and  all  manner  of 
woollen  stuffs,  were  the  principal  articles  of  Flemish  production, 
and  it  was  chiefly  from  England  that  Flanders  drew  her  supply 
of  wool,  the  raw  material  of  her  industry.  Thence  arose  be- 
tween the  two  countries  commercial  relations  which  could  not 
fail  to  acquire  political  importance.  As  early  as  the  middle  of 
the  twelfth  century,  several  Flemish  towns  formed  a  society  for 
founding  in  England  a  commercial  exchange,  which  obtained 
great  privileges,  and,  under  the  name  of  the  Flemish  Jianse  of 
London,  reached  rapid  development.  The  merchants  of  Bruges 
had  taken  the  initiative  in  it ;  but  soon  all  the  towns  of  Flan- 
ders —  and  Flanders  was  covered  with  towns  —  Ghent,  Lille, 
Ypres,  Courtrai,  Furnes,  Alost,  St.  Omer,  and  Douai,  entered 
the  confederation,  and  made  unity  as  well  as  extension  of  lib- 
erties in  respect  of  Flemish  commerce  the  object  of  their  joint 
efforts.  Their  prosperity  became  celebrated  ;  and  its  celebrity 
gave  it  increase.  It  was  a  burgher  of  Bruges  who  was  governor 
of  the  hanse  of  London,  and  he  was  called  the  Count  of  the 
Hanse.  The  fair  of  Bruges,  held  in  the  month  of  May,  brought 
together  traders  from  the  whole  world.  "  Thither  came  for 
exchange,"  says  the  most  modern  and  most  enlightened  historian 
of  Flanders  (Baron  Kervyn  de  Lettenhove,  Histoire  de  Flandre, 
t.  ii.  p.  300),  "  the  produce  of  the  North  and  the  South,  the 
riches  collected  in  the  pilgrimages  to  Novogorod,  and  those 
brought  over  by  the  caravans  from  Samarcand  and  Bagdad,  the 
pitch  of  Norway  and  the  oils  of  Andalusia,  the  furs  of  Russia 
and  the  dates  from  the  Atlas,  the  metals  of  Hungary  and  Bohe- 
mia, the  figs  of  Granada,  the  honey  of  Portugal,  the  wax  of 
Morocco,  and  the  spice  of  Egypt ;  whereby,  says  an  ancient 
manuscript,  no  land  is  to  be  compared  in  merchandise  to  the 
land  of  Flanders."  At  Ypres,  the  chief  centre  of  cloth  fabrics, 
VOL.  II.  21 


162  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.     [Chap.  XVIII. 

the  population  increased  so  rapidly  that,  in  1247,  the  sheriffs 
prayed  Pope  Innocent  IV.  to  augment  the  number  of  parishes 
in  their  city,  which  contained,  according  to  their  account,  about 
two  hundred  thousand  persons.  So  much  prosperity  made  the 
Counts  of  Flanders  very  puissant  lords.  "  Marguerite  II.,  called 
the  Black,  Countess  of  Flanders  and  Hainault,  from  1244  to  1280, 
was  extremely  rich,"  says  a  chronicler,  "not  only  in  lands,  but 
in  furniture,  jewels,  and  money ;  and,  as  is  not  customary  with 
women,  she  was  right  liberal  and  right  sumptuous,  not  only  in 
her  largesses,  but  in  her  entertainments,  and  whole  manner  of 
living ;  insomuch  that  she  kept  up  the  state  of  queen  rather 
than  countess."  Nearly  all  the  Flemish  towns  were  strongly 
organized  communes,  in  which  prosperity  had  won  liberty,  and 
which  became  before  long  small  republics  sufficiently  powerful 
not  only  for  the  defence  of  their  municipal  rights  against  the 
Counts  of  Flanders,  their  lords,  but  for  offering  an  armed  resist- 
ance to  such  of  the  sovereigns  their  neighbors  as  attempted  to 
conquer  them  or  to  trammel  them  in  their  commercial  relations, 
or  to  draw  upon  their  wealth  by  forced  contributions  or  by 
plunder.  Philip  Augustus  had  begun  to  have  a  taste  of  their 
strength  during  his  quarrels  with  Count  Ferdinand  of  Portugal, 
whom  he  had  made  Count  of  Flanders  by  marrying  him  to  the 
Countess  Joan,  heiress  of  the  countship,  and  whom,  after  the 
battle  of  Bouvines,  he  had  confined  for  thirteen  years  in  the 
tower  of  the  Louvre.  Philip  the  Handsome  laid  himself  open 
to  and  was  subjected  by  the  Flemings  to  still  rougher  expe- 
riences. 

At  the  time  of  the  latter  king's  accession  to  the  throne,  Guy 
de  Dampierre,  of  noble  Champagnese  origin,  had  been  for  five 
years  Count  of  Flanders,  as  heir  to  his  mother,  Marguerite  II. 
He  was  a  prince  who  did  not  lack  courage,  or,  on  a  great  emer- 
gency, high-mindedness  and  honor ;  but  he  was  ambitious,  cov- 
etous, as  parsimonious  as  his  mother  had  been  munificent,  and 
above  all  concerned  to  get  his  children  married  in  a  manner  con- 
ducive to  his  own  political  importance.     He  had  by  his  two 


Chap.  XVIII.]       THE   KINGSHIP  IN   FRANCE.  163 

wives,  Matilda  of  Bethune  and  Isabel  of  Luxembourg,  nine  sons 
and  eight  daughters,  offering  free  scope  for  combinations  and 
connections,  in  respect  of  which  Guy  de  Dampi'erre  was  not  at 
all  scrupulous  about  the  means  of  success.  He  had  a  quarrel 
with  his  son-in-law,  Florent  V.,  Count  of  Holland,  to  whom  he 
had  given  his  daughter  Beatrice  in  marriage ;  and  another  of  his 
sons-in-law,  John  I.,  Duke  of  Brabant,  married  to  another  of  his 
daughters,  the  Princess  Marguerite,  offered  himself  as  mediator 
in  the  difference.  The  two  brothers-in-law  went  together  to  see 
their  father-in-law;  but,  on  their  arrival,  Guy  de  Dampierre 
seized  the  person  of  the  Count  of  Holland,  and  would  not  re- 
lease him  until  the  Duke  of  Brabant  offered  to  become  prisoner 
in  his  place,  and  found  himself  obliged,  in  order  to  obtain  his 
liberty,  to  pay  his  father-in-law  a  tough  ransom.  It  was  not 
long  before  Guy  himself  suffered  from  the  same  sort  of  iniqui- 
tous surprise  that  he  had  practised  upon  his  sons-in-law.  In 
1293  he  was  secretly  negotiating  the  marriage  of  Philippa,  one 
of  his  daughters,  with  Prince  Edward,  eldest  son  of  the  King 
of  England.  Philip  the  Handsome,  having  received  due  warn- 
ing, invited  the  Count  of  Flanders  to  Paris,  "  to  take  counsel 
with  him  and  the  other  barons  touching  the  state  of  the  kin<r- 
dom."  At  first  Guy  hesitated ;  but  he  dared  not  refuse,  and  he 
repaired  to  Paris,  with  his  sons  John  and  Guy.  As  soon  as  he 
arrived  he  bashfully  announced  to  the  king  the  approaching 
union  of  his  daughter  with  the  English  prince,  protesting,  "  that 
he  would  never  cease,  for  all  that,  to  serve  him  loyally,  as  every 
good  and  true  man  should  serve  his  lord."  "  In  God's  name, 
Sir  Count,"  said  the  enraged  king,  "  this  thing  will  never  do ; 
you  have  made  alliance  with  my  foe,  without  my  wit ;  wherefore 
you  shall  abide  with  me ; "  and  he  had  him,  together  with  his 
sons,  marched  off  at  once  to  the  tower  of  the  Louvre,  where 
Guy  remained  for  six  months,  and  did  not  then  get  out  save  by 
leaving  as  hostage  to  the  King  of  France  his  daughter  Philippa 
herself,  who  was  destined  to  pass  in  this  prison  her  young  and 
mournful  life.     On  once  more  entering  Flanders,  Count  Guy 


164  POPULAR   HISTORY    OF   FRANCE.     [Chap.  XVIII. 

oscillated  for  two  years  between  the  King  of  France  and  the 
King  of  England,  submitting  to  the  exactions  of  the  former,  at 
the  same  time  that  he  was  privily  renewing  his  attempts  to  form 
an  intimate  alliance  with  the  latter.  Driven  to  extremity  by  the 
haughty  severity  of  Philip,  he  at  last  came  to  a  decision,  con- 
cluded a  formal  treaty  with  Edward  I.,  affianced  to  the  English 
crown-prince  the  most  youthful  of  his  daughters,  Isabel  of  Flan- 
ders, youngest  sister  of  Philippa,  the  prisoner  in  the  tower  of 
the  Louvre,  and  charged  two  ambassadors  to  go  to  Paris,  as  the 
bearers  of  the  following  declaration :  "  Every  one  doth  know  in 
how  many  ways  the  King  of  France  hath  misbehaved  towards 
God  and  justice.  Such  is  his  might  ,and  'his  pride,  that  he  doth 
acknowledge  nought  above  himself,  and  he  hath  brought  us  to 
the  necessity  of  seeking  allies  who  may  be  able  to  defend  and 
protect  us.  .  .  .  By  reason  whereof  we  do  charge  our  ambassa- 
dors to  declare  and  say,  for  us  and  from  us,  to  the  abovesaid 
king,  that  because  of  his  misdeeds  and  defaults  of  justice,  we 
hold  ourselves  unbound,  absolved,  and  delivered  from  all  bonds, 
all  alliances,  obligations,  conventions,  subjections,  services,  and 
dues  whereby  we  may  have  been  bounden  towards  him." 

This  meant  war.  And  it  was  prompt  and  sharp  on  the  part 
of  the  King  of  France,  slow  and  dull  on  the  part  of  the  King 
of  England,  who  was  always  more  bent  upon  the  conquest  of 
Scotland  than  upon  defending,  on  the  Continent,  his  ally,  the 
Count  of  Flanders.  In  June,  1297,  Philip  the  Handsome,  in 
person,  laid  siege  to  Lille,  and,  on  the  13th  of  August,  Robert, 
Count  of  Artois,  at  the  head  of  the  French  chivalry,  gained  at 
Furnes,  over  the  Flemish  army,  a  victory  which  decided  the  cam- 
paign. Lille  capitulated.  The  English  re-enforcements  arrived 
too  late,  and  served  no  other  purpose  but  that  of  inducing  Philip 
to  grant  the  Flemings  a  truce  for  two  years.  A  fruitless  attempt 
was  made,  with  the  help  of  Pope  Boniface  VIII. ,  to  change  the 
truce  into  a  lasting  peace.  The  very  day  on  which  it  expired, 
Charles,  Count  of  Valois,  and  brother  of  Philip  the  Handsome, 
entered  Flanders  with  a  powerful  army,  surprised  Douai,  passed 


Chap.  XVIIL]        THE   KINGSHIP   IN   FRANCE.  165 

through  Bruges,  and,  on  arriving  at  Ghent,  gave  a  reception  to 
its  magistrates,  who  came  and  offered  him  the  keys.  "  The 
burghers  of  the  towns  of  Flanders,"  says  a  chronicler  of  the 
age,  "  were  all  bribed  by  gifts  or  promises  from  the  King  of 
France,  who  would  never  have  dared  to  invade  their  frontiers, 
had  they  been  faithful  to  their  count."  Guy  de  Dampierre, 
hopelessly  beaten,  repaired,  with  two  of  his  sons,  and  fifty-one 
of  his  faithful  knights,  to  the  camp  of  the  Count  of  Valois,  who 
gave  him  a  kind  reception,  and  urged  him  to  trust  himself  to 
the  king's  generosity,  promising  at  the  same  time  to  support  his 
suit.  Guy  set  out  for  Paris  with  all  his  retinue.  On  approach- 
ing the  City-palace  which  was  the  usual  residence  of  the  kings, 
he  espied  at  one  of  the  windows  Queen  Joan  of  Navarre,  who 
took  a  supercilious  pleasure  in  gazing  upon  the  humiliation  of 
the  victim  of  defeat.  Guy  drooped  his  head,  and  gave  no  greet- 
ing. When  he  was  close  to  the  steps  of  the  palace,  he  dis- 
mounted from  his  horse,  and  placed  himself  and  all  his  following 
at  the  mercy  of  the  king.  The  Count  of  Valois  said  a  few 
words  in  his  favor,  but  Philip,  cutting  his  brother  short,  said, 
addressing  himself  to  Guy,  "  I  desire  no  peace  with  you,  and  if 
my  brother  has  made  any  engagements  with  you,  he  had  no  right 
to  do  so."  And  he  had  the  Count  of  Flanders  taken  off  imme- 
diately to  Compiegne,  "  to  a  strong  tower,  such  that  all  could 
see  him,"  and  his  comrades  were  distributed  amongst  several 
towns,  where  they  were  strictly  guarded.  The  whole  of  Flan- 
ders submitted  ;  and  its  principal  towns,  Ypres,  Audenarde,  Ter- 
monde,  and  Cassel,  fell  successively  into  the  hands  of  the 
French.  Three  of  the  sons  of  Count  Guy  retired  to  Namur. 
The  constable  Raoul  of  Nesle  "  was  lieutenant  for  the  King  of 
France  in  his  newly-won  country  of  Flanders."  Next  year,  in 
the  month  of  May,  1301,  Philip  determined  to  pay  his  conquest 
a  visit ;  and  the  queen,  his  wife,  accompanied  him.  There  is 
never  any  lack  of  galas  for  conquerors.  After  having  passed  in 
state  through  Tournai,  Courtrai,  Audenarde,  and  Ghent,  the 
King  and  Queen  of  France  made  their  entry  into  Bruges.     All 


166  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.     [Chap.  XVIII. 

the  houses  were  magnificently  decorated ;  on  platforms  covered 
with  the  richest  tapestry  thronged  the  ladies  of  Bruges ;  there 
was  nothing  but  haberdashery  and  precious  stones.  Such  an 
array  of  fine  dresses,  jewels,  and  riches,  excited  a  woman's  jeal- 
ousy in  the  Queen  of  France :  "  There  is  none  but  queens," 
quoth  she,  "  to  be  seen  in  Bruges ;  I  had  thought  that  there  was 
none  but  I  who  had  a  right  to  royal  state."  But  the  people  of 
Bruges  remained  dumb ;  and  their  silence  scared  Philip  the 
Handsome,  who  vainly  attempted  to  attract  a  concourse  of 
people  about  him  by  the  proclamation  of  brilliant  jousts. 
"  These  galas,"  says  the  historian  Villani,  who  was  going 
through  Flanders  at  this  very  time,  "  were  the  last  whereof  the 
French  knew  aught  in  our  time,  for  Fortune,  who  till  then  had 
shown  such  favor  to  the  King  of  France,  on  a  sudden  turned 
her  wheel,  and  the  cause  thereof  lay  in  the  unrighteous  captivity 
of  the  innocent  maid  of  Flanders,  and  in  the  treason  whereof 
the  Count  of  Flanders  and  his  sons  had  been  the  victims." 
There  were  causes,  however,  for  this  new  turn  of  events  of  a 
more  general  and  more  profound  character  than  the  personal 
woes  of  Flemish  princes.  James  de  Chatillon,  the  governor 
assigned  by  Philip  the  Handsome  to  Flanders,  was  a  greedy  op- 
pressor of  it;  the  municipal  authorities  whom  the  victories  or 
the  gold  of  Philip  had  demoralized  became  the  objects  of  pop- 
ular hatred ;  and  there  was  an  outburst  of  violent  sedition.  A 
simple  weaver,  obscure,  poor,  undersized,  and  one-eyed,  but  val- 
iant, and  eloquent  in  his  Flemish  tongue,  one  Peter  Deconing, 
became  the  leader  of  revolt  in  Bruges ;  accomplices  flocked  to 
him  from  nearly  all  the  towns  of  Flanders  ;  and  he  found  allies 
amongst  their  neighbors.  In  1302  war  again  broke  out ;  but  it 
was  no  longer  a  war  between  Philip  the  Handsome  and  Guy  de 
Dampierre :  it  was  a  war  between  the  Flemish  communes  and 
their  foreign  oppressors.  Everywhere  resounded  the  cry  of 
insurrection:  "Our  bucklers  and  our  friends  for  the  lion  of 
Flanders!  Death  to  all  Walloons!"  Philip  the  Handsome 
precipitately  levied  an  army  of  sixty  thousand  men,  says  Villani, 


BATTLE   OF  COURTRAI.  —  Page  167. 


Chap.  XVIII.]       THE  KINGSHIP   IN   FRANCE.  167 

and  gave  the  command  of  it  to  Count  Robert  of  Artois,  the 
hero  of  Furnes.  The  forces  of  the  Flemings  amounted  to  no 
more  than  twenty  thousand  fighting  men.  The  two  armies  met 
near  Courtrai.  The  French  chivalry  were  full  of  ardor  and 
confidence ;  and  the  Italian  archers  in  their  service  began  the 
attack  with  some  success.  "  My  lord,"  said  one  of  his  knights 
to  the  Count  of  Artois,  "  these  knaves  will  do  so  well  that 
they  will  gain  the  honor  of  the  day ;  and,  if  they  alone  put  an 
end  to  the  war,  what  will  be  left  for  the  noblesse  to  do  ?  " 
"Attack,  then!"  answered  the  prince.  Two  grand  attacks 
succeeded  one  another  ;  the  first  under  the  orders  of  the  Consta- 
ble Raoul  of  Nesle,  the  second  under  those  of  the  Count  of 
Artois  in  person.  After  two  hours'  fighting,  both  failed  against 
the  fiery  national  passion  of  the  Flemish  communes,  and  the 
two  French  leaders,  the  Constable  and  the  Count  of  Artois, 
were  left,  both  of  them,  lying  on  the  field  of  battle  amidst 
twelve  or  fifteen  thousand  of  their  dead.  "  I  yield  me  !  I  yield 
me !  "  cried  the  Count  of  Artois ;  but,  "  We  understand  not  thy 
lingo,"  ironically  answered  in  their  own  tongue  the  Flemings 
who  surrounded  him  ;  and  he  was  forthwith  put  to  the  sword. 
Too  late  to  save  him  galloped  up  a  noble  ally  of  the  insurgents, 
Guy  of  Namur.  "  From  the  top  of  the  towers  of  our  monas- 
tery," says  the  Abbot  of  St.  Martin's  of  Tournai,  "  we  could  see 
the  French  flying  over  the  roads,  across  fields  and  through 
hedges,  in  such  numbers  that  the  sight  must  have  been  seen  to 
be  believed.  There  were  in  the  outskirts  of  our  town  and  in 
the  neighboring  villages,  so  vast  a  multitude  of  knights  and 
men-at-arms  tormented  with  hunger,  that  it  was  a  matter  horri- 
ble to  see.     They  gave' their  arms  to  get  bread." 

A  French  knight,  covered  with  wounds,  whose  name  has 
remained  unknown,  hastily  scratched  a  few  words  upon  a  scrap 
of  parchment  dyed  with  blood  ;  and  that  was  the  first  account 
Philip  the  Handsome  received  of  the  battle  of  Courtrai,  which 
was  fought  and  lost  on  the  11th  of  July,  1302. 

The  news  of  this  great  defeat  of  the  French  spread  rapidly 


168  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.     [Chap.  XVIII. 

throughout  Europe,  and  filled  with  joy  all  those  who  were 
hostile  to  or  jealous  of  Philip  the  Handsome.  The  Flemings 
celebrated  their  victory  with  splendor,  and  rewarded  with 
bounteous  gifts  their  burgher  heroes,  *Peter  Deconing  amongst 
others,  and  those  of  their  neighbors  who  had  brought  them  aid. 
Philip,  greatly  affected  and  a  little  alarmed,  sent  for  his  prisoner, 
the  aged  Guy  de  Dampierre,  and  loaded  him  with  reproaches,  as 
if  he  had  to  thank  him  for  the  calamity ;  and,  forthwith  levy- 
ing a  fresh  army,  "  as  numerous,"  say  the  chroniclers,  "  as  the 
grains  of  sand  on  the  borders  of  the  sea  from  Propontis  to  the 
Ocean,"  he  took  up  a  position  at  Arras,  and  even  advanced  quite 
close  to  Douai  ;  but  he  was  of  those  in  whom  obstinacy  does 
not  extinguish  prudence,  and  who,  persevering  all  the  while  in 
their  purposes,  have  wit  to  understand  the  difficulties  and  dan- 
gers of  them.  Instead  of  immediately  resuming  the  war,  he 
entered  into  negotiations  with  the  Flemings ;  and  their  envoys 
met  him  in  a  ruined  church  beneath  the  walls  of  Douai.  John 
of  Chalons,  one  of  Philip's  envoys,  demanded,  in  his  name,  that 
the  king  should  be  recognized  as  lord  of  all  Flanders,  and  au- 
thorized to  punish  the  insurrection  of  Bruges,  with  a  promise, 
however,  to  spare  the  lives  of  all  who  had  taken  part  in  it. 
"  How !  "  said  a  Fleming,  Baldwin  de  Paperode ;  "  our  lives 
would  be  left  us,  but  only  after  our  goods  had  been  pillaged  and 
our  limbs  subjected  to  every  torture  !  "  "  Sir  Castellan,"  an- 
swered John  of  Chalons,  "why  speak  you  so?  A  choice  must 
needs  be  made  ;  for  the  king  is  determined  to  lose  his  crown  rather 
than  not  be  avenged."  Another  Fleming,  John  de  Renesse,  who, 
leaning  on  the  broken  altar,  had  hitherto  kept  silence,  cried, 
"  Since  so  it  is,  let  answer  be  made  to  the  king  that  we  be  come 
hither  to  fight  him,  and  not  to  deliver  up  to  him  our  fellow- 
citizens  ;  "  and  the  Flemish  envoys  withdrew.  Still  Philip  did 
not  give  up  negotiating,  for  the  purpose  of  gaining  time  and  of 
letting  the  edge  wear  off  the  Flemings'  confidence.  He  returned 
to  Paris,  fetched  Guy  de  Dampierre  from  the  tower  of  the 
Louvre,  and  charged  him  to  go  and  negotiate  peace  under  a 


Chap.  XVIII.]        THE  KINGSHIP   IN  FRANCE.  169 

promise  of  returning  to  his  prison  if  he  were  unsuccessful. 
Guy,  respected  as  he  was  throughout  Flanders  on  account  of  his 
age  and  his  long  misfortunes,  failed. in  his  attempt,  and,  faithful 
to  his  word,  went  back  and  submitted  himself  to  the  power  of 
Philip.  "  I  am  so  old,"  said  he  to  his  friends,  "  that  I  am 
ready  to  die  whensoever  it  shall  please  God."  And  he  did  die, 
on  the  7th  of  March,  1304,  in  the  prison  of  Compiegne,  to  which 
he  had  been  transferred.  Philip,  all  the  while  pushing  forward 
his  preparations  for  war,  continued  to  make  protestation  of 
pacific  intentions.  The  Flemish  communes  desired  the  peace 
necessary  for  the  prosperity  of  their  commerce ;  but  patriotic 
anxieties  wrestled  with  material  interests.  A  burgher  of  Ghent 
was  quietly  fishing  on  the  banks  of  the  Scheldt,  when  an  old 
man  acosted  him,  saying  sharply,  "  Knowest  thou  not,  then,  that 
the  king  is  assembling  all  his  armies  ?  It  is  time  the  Ghentese 
shook  off  their  sloth  ;  the  lion  of  Flanders  must  no  longer  slum- 
ber. In  the  spring  of  1304,  the  cry  of  war  resounded  every- 
where. Philip  had  laid  an  impost  extraordinary  upon  all  real 
property  in  his  kingdom  ;  regulars  and  reserves  had  been  sum- 
moned to  Arras,  to  attack  the  Flemings  by  land  and  sea.  He 
had  taken  into  his  pay  a  Genoese  fleet  commanded  by  Regnier 
de  Grimaldi,  a  celebrated  Italian  admiral ;  and  it  arrived  in 
the  North  Sea,  and  blockaded  Zierikzee,  a  maritime  town  of 
Zealand.  On  the  10th  of  August,  1304,  the  Flemish  fleet 
which  was  defending  the  place  was  beaten  and  dispersed. 
Philip  hoped  for  a  moment  that  this  reverse  would  discourage 
the  Flemings ;  but  it  was  not  so  at  all.  A  great  battle  took 
place  on  the  17th  of  August  between  the  two  land  armies  at 
Mons-en-Puelle  (or,  Mont-en-Pe*vele,  according  to  the  true  local 
spelling),  near  Lille ;  the  action  was  for  some  time  indecisive, 
and  even  after  it  was  over  both  sides  hesitated  about  claiming 
the  victory ;  but  when  the  Flemings  saw  their  camp  swept  off 
and  rifled,  and  when  they  no  longer  found  in  it,  say  the  chroni- 
clers, "  their  fine  stuffs  of  Bruges  and  Ypres,  their  wines  of 
vol.  II.  22 


170  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF  FRANCE.     [Chap.  XVIII. 

Rochelle,  their  beers  of  Cambrai,  and  their  cheeses  of  Bdthune," 
they  declared  that  they  would  return  to  their  hearths ;  and 
their  leaders,  unable  to  restrain  them,  were  obliged  to  shut 
themselves  up  in  Lille,  whither  Philip,  who  had  himself  retired 
at  first  to  Arras,  came  to  besiege  them.  "When  the  first  days 
of  downheartedness  were  over,  and  at  sight  of  the  danger  which 
threatened  Lille  and  the  remains  of  the  Flemish  army  assembled 
within  its  walls,  all  Flanders  rushed  to  arms.  "  The  labors  of 
the  workshop  and  the  field  were  everywhere  suspended,"  say 
contemporary  historians  :  "  the  women  kept  guard  in  the  towns : 
you  might  traverse  the  country  without  meeting  a  single  man, 
for  they  were  all  in  the  camp  at  Courtrai,  to  the  number  of 
twelve  hundred  thousand,  according  to  popular  exaggeration, 
swearing  one  to  another  that  they  would  rather  die  fighting 
than  live  in  slavery."  Philip  was  astounded.  "I  thought  the 
Flemings,"  said  he,  "  were  destroyed ;  but  they  seem  to  rain 
from  heaven;"  and  he  resumed  his  protestations  and  pacific 
overtures.  Circumstances  were  favorable  to  him :  old  Guy  de 
Dampierre  was  dead ;  Robert  of  Bethune,  his  eldest  son  and 
successor,  was  still  the  prisoner  of  Philip  the  Handsome,  who 
set  him  at  liberty  after  having  imposed  conditions  upon  him. 
Robert,  timid  in  spirit  and  weak  of  heart,  accepted  them,  in 
spite  of  the  grumblings  of  the  Flemish  populations,  always  eager 
to  recommence  war  after  a  short  respite  from  its  trials.  The 
burghers  of  Bruges  had  made  themselves  a  new  seal,  whereon 
the  old  symbol  of  the  bridge  of  their  city  on  the  Reye  was 
replaced  by  the  lion  of  Flanders  wearing  the  crown  and  armed 
with  the  cross,  with  this  inscription  :  "  The  lion  hath  roared  and 
burst  his  fetters  "  (JR-ugiit  leo,  vincula  f regit) .  During  ten  years, 
from  1305  to  1314,  there  was  between  France  and  Flanders  a 
continual  alternation  of  reciprocal  concessions  and  retractations, 
of  treaties  concluded  and  of  renewed  insurrections,  without  deci- 
sive and  ascertained  results.  It  was  neither  peace  nor  war ; 
and,  after  the  death  of  Philip  the  Handsome,  his  successors 
were  destined,  for  a  long  time  to  come,  to  find  again  and  again 


Chap.  XVIII.]       THE  KINGSHIP  IN   FRANCE.  171 

amongst  the  Flemish  communes  deadly  enmities  and  grievous 
perils. 

At  the  same  time  that  he  was  prosecuting  this  interminable 
war  against  the  Flemings,  Philip  was  engaged,  in  this  case  also 
beyond  the  boundaries  of  his  kingdom,  in  a  struggle  which  was 
still  more  serious,  owing  to  the  nature  of  the  questions  which 
gave  rise  to  it  and  to  the  quality  of  his  adversary.  In  1294  a 
new  pope,  Cardinal  Benedetto  Gaetani,  had  been  elected  under 
the  name  of  Boniface  VIII.  He  had  been  for  a  long  time  con- 
nected with  the  French  party  in  Italy,  and  he  owed  his  eleva- 
tion to  the  influence,  especially,  of  Charles  II.,  King  of  Naples 
and  Sicily,  grandson  of  St.  Louis  and  cousin-german  of  Philip 
the  Handsome.  Shortly  before  his  election,  Benedetto  Gaetani 
said  to  that  prince,  "  Thy  pope  (Celestine  V.)  was  willing  and 
able  to  serve  thee,  only  he  knew  not  how ;  as  for  me,  if  thou 
make  me  pope,  I  shall  be  willing  and  able  and  know  how  to  be 
useful  to  thee."  The  long  quarrel  between  the  popes  and  the 
Emperors  of  Germany,  who,  as  Kings  of  the  Romans,  aspired  to 
invade  or  dominate  Italy,  had  made  the  Kings  of  France  natural 
allies  of  the  papacy,  and  there  had  been  a  saying  ever  since, 
arising  from  a  popular  instinct,  which  had  already  found  its  way 
into  poetry,  — 

"  Tis  a  goodly  match  as  match  can  be, 

To  marry  the  Church  and  the  fleurs-de-lis  : 

Should  either  mate  a-straying  go, 

Then  each  —  too  late  —  will  own  'twas  so." 

Boniface  VIII.  did  not  seem  fated  to  withdraw  from  this 
policy ;  he  was  old  (sixty-six)  ;  his  party-engagements  were  of 
long  standing ;  his  personal  fortune  was  made ;  three  years 
before  his  election  he  possessed  twelve  ecclesiastical  benefices,  of 
which  seven  were  in  France  ;  by  his  accession  to  the  Holy  See 
his  ambition  was  satisfied;  and  as  legate  in  France  in  1290  he 
had  made  the  acquaintance  there  of  the  young  king,  Philip  the 
Handsome,  and  had  conceived  a  liking  for  him.     King  Philip 


172  POPULAR  HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.     [Chap.  XVIII. 

must  have  considered  that  he  had  ground  for  seeing  in  him  a 
faithful  and  useful  ally. 

Neither  of  the  two  sovereigns  took  into  account  the  changes 
that  had  come,  during  two  centuries  past,  over  the  character 
of  their  power,  and  of  the  influence  which  these  changes  must 
exercise  upon  their  posture  and  their  relations  one  towards  the 
other.  Louis  the  Fat  in  the  first  instance,  and  then  in  a  special 
manner  Philip  Augustus  and  St.  Louis,  each  with  very  different 
sentiments  and  by  very  different  processes,  had  disentangled 
the  kingship  in  France  from  the  feudal  system,  and  had  acquired 
for  it  a  sovereignty  of  its  own,  beyond  and  above  the  rights  of 
the  suzerain  over  his  vassals.  The  popes,  for  their  part,  Greg- 
ory VII.  and  Innocent  III.  amongst  others,  had  raised  the 
papacy  to  a  region  of  intellectual  and  moral  supremacy  whence 
it  looked  down  upon  all  the  terrestrial  powers.  Gregory  VII., 
the  most  disinterested  of  all  ambitious  men  in  high  places,  had 
dedicated  his  stormy  life  to  establishing  the  dominion  of  the 
Church  over  the  world,  kings  as  well  as  people,  and  also  to  re- 
forming internally  the  Church  herself,  her  morals  and  her  disci- 
pline. "  I  have  loved  justice  and  hated  iniquity  ;  and  that  is  why 
I  am  dying  in  exile,"  he  had  said  on  his  death-bed :  but  his 
works  survived  him,  and  a  hundred  years  after  him,  in  spite  of 
the  troubles  which  had  disturbed  the  Church  under  eighteen 
mediocre  and  transitory  popes,  Innocent  III.,  whilst  maintaining, 
only  with  more  moderation  and  prudence,  the  same  principles  as 
Gregory  VII.  had  maintained,  exercised  peacefully,  for  a  space 
of  eighteen  years,  the  powers  of  the  right  divine,  whilst  Philip 
Augustus  was  extending  and  confirming  the  kingly  power  in 
France.  This  parallel  progress  of  the  kingship  and  the  papacy 
had  its  critics  and  its  supporters.  Learned  lawyers,  on  the 
authority  of  the  maxims  and  precedents  of  the  Roman  empire, 
proclaimed  the  king's  sovereignty  in  the  State  ;  and  profound 
theologians,  on  the  authority  of  the  divine  origin  of  Christianity, 
laid  down  as  a  principle  the  right  divine  of  the  papacy  in  the 
Church   and  in   the  dealings   of  the   Church  with  the   State. 


Chap.  XVIII.]        THE   KINGSHIP   IN   FRANCE.  173 

Thus,  at  the  end  of  the  thirteenth  century,  there  were  found 
face  to  face  two  systems,  one  laic  and  the  other  ecclesiastical, 
of  absolute  power.  But  the  teachers  of  the  doctrine  of  the 
right  divine  do  not  expunge  from  human  affairs  the  passions, 
errors,  and  vices  of  the  individuals  who  put  their  systems  in 
practice ;  and  absolute  power,  which  is  the  greatest  of  all 
demoralizers,  entails  before  long  upon  communities,  whether 
civil  or  religious,  the  disorders,  abuses,  faults,  and  evils  which 
it  is  the  special  province  of  governments  to  prevent  or  keep 
under.  The  French  kingship  and  the  papacy,  the  representa- 
tives of  which  had  but  lately  been  great  and  glorious  princes, 
such  as  Philip  Augustus  and  St.  Louis,  Gregory  VII.  and 
Innocent  III.,  were,  at  the  end  of  the  thirteenth  century,  vested 
in  the  persons  of  men  of  far  less  moral  worth  and  less  political 
wisdom,  Philip  the  Handsome  and  Boniface  VIII.  We  have 
already  had  glimpses  of  Philip  the  Handsome's  greedy,  ruggedly 
obstinate,  haughty  and  tyrannical  character  ;  and  Boniface  VIII. 
had  the  same  defects,  with  more  hastiness  and  less  ability. 
The  two  great  poets  of  Italy  in  that  century,  Dante  and 
Petrarch,  who  were  both  very  much  opposed  to  Philip  the 
Handsome,  paint  Boniface  VIII.  in  similar  colors.  "  He  was," 
says  Petrarch  (Epistolce  Familiares,  bk.  ii.  letter  3),  "  an 
inexorable  sovereign,  whom  it  was  very  hard  to  break  by  force, 
and  impossible  to  bend  by  humility  and  caresses ; "  and  Dante 
{Inferno,  canto  xix.  v.  45-57)  makes  Pope  Nicholas  III.  say, 
"  Already  art  thou  here  and  proudly  upstanding,  O  Boniface  ? 
Hast  thou  so  soon  been  sated  with  that  wealth  for  which 
thou  didst  not  fear  to  deceive  that  fair  dame  (the  Church) 
whom  afterwards  thou  didst  so  disastrously  govern  ?  "  Two 
men  so  deeply  imbued  with  evil  and  selfish  passions  could  not 
possibly  meet  without  clashing  ;  and  it  was  not  long  before 
facts  combined  to  produce  between  them  an  outburst  of  hatred 
and  strife  which  revealed  the  latent  vices  and  fatal  results 
of  the  two  systems  of  absolute  power  of  which  they  were 
the  representatives. 


174  POPULAR   HISTORY    OF   FRANCE.     [Chap.  XVIII. 

Philip  the  Handsome  had  been  nine  years  king  when  Boniface 
VIII.  became  pope.  On  his  accession  to  the  throne  he  had 
testified  an  intention  of  curtailing  the  privileges  and  power 
of  the  Church.  He  had  removed  the  clergy  from  judicial 
functions,  in  the  domains  of  the  lords  as  well  as  in  the  domain 
of  the  king,  and  he  had  everywhere  been  putting  into  the 
hands  of  laymen  the  administration  of  civil  justice.  He  had 
considerably  increased  the  percentage  to  be  paid  on  real 
property  acquired  by  the  Church  (called  possessions  in  mort- 
mahi),  by  way  of  compensation  for  the  mutation-dues  which 
their  fixity  caused  the  State  to  lose.  At  the  time  of  the  cru- 
sades the  property  of  the  clergy  had  been  subjected  to  a  special 
tax  of  a  tenth  of  the  revenues,  and  this  tax  had  been  several 
times  renewed  for  reasons  other  than  the  crusades.  The 
Church  recognized  her  duty  of  contributing  towards  the  de- 
fence of  the  kingdom,  and  the  chapter-general  of  the  order  of 
Citeaux  wrote  to  Philip  the  Handsome  himself,  "  On  all  grounds 
of  natural  equity  and  rules  of  law  we  ought  to  bear  our  share 
of  such  a  burden  out  of  the  goods  which  God  hath  given  us." 
In  every  instance,  the  question  had  been  as  to  the  necessity  for 
and  the  quota  of  the  ecclesiastical  contribution,  which  was  at 
one  time  granted  by  the  bishops  and  local  clerg}^,  at  another 
expressly  authorized  by  the  papacy.  There  is  nothing  to  show 
that  Boniface  VIII.,  at  the  time  of  his  elevation  to  the  Holy 
See,  was  opposed  to  these  augmentations  and  demands  on  the 
part  of  the  French  crown ;  he  was  at  that  time  too  much  occu- 
pied by  his  struggle  against  his  own  enemies  at  Rome,  the 
family  of  the  Colonnas,  and  he  felt  the  necessity  of  remaining 
on  good  terms  with  France  ;  but  in  1296,  Philip  the  Handsome, 
at  war  with  the  King  of  England  and  the  Flemings,  imposed 
upon  the  clergy  two  fresh  tenths.  The  bishops  alone  were 
called  upon  to  vote  them  ;  and  the  order  of  Citeaux  refused  to 
pay  them,  and  addressed  to  the  pope  a  protest,  with  a  compari- 
son between  Philip  and  Pharaoh.  Boniface  not  only  enter- 
tained the   protest,  but   addressed   to   the  king  a  bull  (called 


Chap.  XVIII.]      THE   KINGSHIP   IN   FRANCE.  175 

Clericis  laicos,  from  its  first  two  words),  in  which,  led  on  by 
his  zeal  to  set  forth  the  generality  and  absoluteness  of  his 
power,  he  laid  down  as  a  principle  that  churches  and  ecclesias- 
tics could  not  be  taxed  save  with  the  permission  of  the  sover- 
eign pontiff,  and  that  "all  emperors,  kings,  dukes,  counts, 
barons,  or  governors  whatsoever,  who  should  violate  this  princi- 
ple, and  all  prelates  or  other  ecclesiastics  who  should  through 
weakness  lend  themselves  to  such  violation,  would  by  this  mere 
fact  incur  excommunication,  and  would  be  incapable  of  release 
therefrom,  save  in  articulo  mortis,  unless  by  a  special  decision 
of  the  Holy  See."  This  was  going  far  be}^ond  the  traditions 
of  the  French  Church,  and,  in  the  very  act  of  protecting  it,  to 
strike  a  blow  at  its  independence  in  its  dealings  with  the  French 
State.  Philip  was  mighty  wroth,  but  he  did  not  burst  out ;  he 
confined  himself  to  letting  the  pope  perceive  his  displeasure 
by  means  of  divers  administrative  measures,  amongst  others  by 
forbidding  the  exportation  from  the  kingdom  of  gold,  silver, 
and  valuable  articles,  which  found  their  way  chiefly  to  Rome. 
Boniface,  on  his  side,  was  not  slow  to  perceive  that  he  had  gone 
too  far,  and  that  his  own  interests  did  not  permit  him  to  give  so 
much  offence  to  the  King  of  France.  A  year  after  the  bull 
Clericis  laicos,  he  modified  it  by  a  new  bull,  which  not  only 
authorized  the  collection  of  the  two  tenths  voted  by  the  French 
bishops,  but  recognized  the  right  of  the  King  of  France  to  tax 
the  French  clergy  with  their  consent  and  without  authoriza- 
tion from  the  Holy  See,  whenever  there  was  a  pressing  ne- 
cessity for  it.  Philip,  on  his  side,  testified  to  the  pope  his 
satisfaction  at  this  concession  b}r  himself  making  one  at  the 
expense  of  the  religious  liberty  of  his  subjects.  In  1292  he 
had  ordered  the  seneschal  of  Carcassonne  to  place  limits  to  the 
power  of  the  inquisitors  in  Languedoc  by  taking  from  them 
the  right  of  having  their  sentences  against  heretics  executed 
without  appeal ;  and  in  1298  he  issued  an  ordinance  to  the 
effect  that  "  to  further  the  proceedings  of  the  Inquisition 
against  heretics,  for  the  glory  of  God  and  for  the  augmenta- 


176  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF  FRANCE.     [Chap.  XVIII. 

tion  of  the  faith,  he  laid  his  injunctions  upon  all  dukes,  counts, 
barons,  seneschals,  bailiffs,  and  provosts  of  his  kingdom,  to 
obey  the  diocesan  bishops  and  the  inquisitors  deputed  by  the 
Holy  See  in  handing  over  to  them,  whenever  they  should  be 
requested,  all  heretics  and  their  creed-fellows,  favorers,  and 
harborers,  and  to  see  to  the  immediate  execution  of  sentences 
passed  by  the  judges  of  the  Church,  notwithstanding  any 
appeal  and  any  complaint  on  the  part  of  heretics  and  their 
favorers." 

Thus  the  two  absolute  sovereigns  changed  their  policy  and 
made  temporary  sacrifice  of  their  mutual  pretensions,  according 
as  it  suited  them  to  fight  or  to  agree.  But  there  arose  a  ques- 
tion in  respect  of  which  this  continual  alternation  of  preten- 
sions and  compromises,  of  quarrels  and  accommodations,  was 
no  longer  possible  ;  in  order  to  keep  up  their  position  in  the 
eyes  of  one  another,  they  were  obliged  to  come  to  a  deadly 
clash  ;  and  in  this  struggle,  perilous  for  both,  Boniface  VIII. 
was  the  aggressor,  and  with  Philip  the  Handsome  remained 
the  victory. 

On  the  2d  of  February,  1300,  Boniface  VIII.,  who  had  much 
at  heart  the  lustre  and  popularity  of  the  Holy  See,  published 
a  bull  which  granted  indulgences  to  the  pilgrims  who  should 
that  year,  and  every  centenary  to  come,  visit  the  church  of  the 
apostles  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul  at  Rome.  At  this  first  celebra- 
tion of  the  centenarian  Christian  jubilee  the  concourse  was  im- 
mense ;  the  most  moderate  historians  say  that  there  were  never 
fewer  than  a  hundred  thousand  pilgrims  at  Rome  ;  others  put 
the  numbers  as  high  as  two  hundred  thousand,  and  contemporary 
poetry  as  well  as  history  has  celebrated  this  pious  assemblage 
of  Christians  of  every  nation,  language,  and  age  around  the 
tomb  of  their  fathers  in  the  faith.  "  The  old  man  with  white 
hair  goeth  far  away,"  says  Petrarch  (Sonnet  xiv.),  "  from  the 
sweet  haunts  where  his  life  hath  been  passed,  and  from  his 
little  family  astonished  to  find  their  dear  father  missing.  As 
for  him,  in   the  last  days  of  his  age,  broken  down  by  weight 


Chap.  XVIII.]       THE  KINGSHIP  IN  FRANCE.  177 

of  years  and  a-weary  of  the  road,  he  draggeth  along  as  best  he 
may  by  force  of  willing  spirit  his  old  and  tottering  limbs,  and 
cometh  to  Rome  to  fulfil  his  desire  of  seeing  the  image  of  Him 
whom  he  hopeth  to  see  ere  long  up  yonder  in  the  heavens." 
The  success  of  the  measure  and  the  solemn  homage  of  Chris- 
tendom filled  with  joy  and  proud  confidence  the  heart  of  the 
septuagenarian  pontiff.  He  had  three  years  before  decreed  to 
Louis  IX.,  the  most  Christian  of  the  Kings  of  France,  the 
honors  of  canonization  and  the  title  of  Saint.  Being  chosen  as 
mediator,  in  1298,  by  the  Kings  of  France  and  England  in  a 
war  which  pressed  heavily  on  both,  the  decree  of  arbitration 
which  he  pronounced,  favorable  rather  to  Philip  than  to 
Edward  I.,  had  been  accepted  by  both  of  them  ;  and  the  pope, 
on  laying  his  injunctions  upon  them  with  some  severity  of 
language,  had  exhibited  authority  in  a  manner  salutary  for 
both  kingdoms.  Everything  seemed  at  that  time  to  smile  on 
Boniface,  and  to  invite  him  to  believe  himself  the  real  sovereign 
of  Christendom. 

An  opportunity  for  a  splendid  confirmation  of  his  universal 
supremacy  in  the  Christian  world  came  to  tempt  him.  A 
quarrel  had  arisen  between  Philip  and  the  Archbishop  of 
Narbonne*  on  the  subject  of  certain  dues  claimed  by  both  in 
that  great  diocese.  Boniface  was  loud  in  his  advocacy  of  the 
archbishop  against  the  officers  of  the  king :  "If,  my  son,  thou 
tolerate  such  enterprises  against  the  Churches  of  thy  kingdom, " 
he  wrote  to  Philip  (on  the  18th  of  July,  1300),  "  thou  mayest 
thereafter  have  reasonable  fear  lest  God,  the  author  of  judg- 
ments and  the  King  of  kings,  exact  vengeance  for  it ;  and 
assuredly  His  vicar  will  not,  in  the  long  run,  keep  silence. 
Though  he  wait  a  while  patiently,  in  order  not  to  close  the 
door  to  compassion,  there  will  be  full  need  at  last  that  he  rouse 
himself  for  the  punishment  of  the  wicked  and  the  glory  of 
the  good."  Nor  did  Boniface  content  himself  with  writing: 
he  sent  to  Paris,  to  support  his  words,  Bernard  de  Saisset, 
whom   he,  on   his   own   authority,  had  just  appointed  Bishop 

vol.  ii.  23 


178  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.     [Chap.  XVIII. 

of  Pamiers.  The  choice  of  bishops  was  not  yet,  at  that  time, 
subject  to  any  fixed  and  generally  recognized  rule  :  most  often 
it  was  the  chapter  of  the  diocese  that  elected  its  bishop,  with  a 
subsequent  application  for  the  approbation  of  the  king  and  the 
pope  ;  sometimes  the  king  and  also  the  pope  made  such  appoint- 
ments directly  and  independently.  Boniface  VIII.  had  quite 
recently  created  a  new  bishopric  at  Pamiers  in  order  to  immedi- 
ately appoint  to  it  Bernard  de  Saisset,  hitherto  simple  Abbot 
of  St.  Antonine  in  that  city.  Bernard,  who  was  devoted  to 
his  patron,  was,  further,  a  passionate  Languedocian  and  a  foe 
to  the  dominion  of  the  French  kings  of  the  North  over  South- 
ern France  ;  and  he  gave  himself  out  as  a  personal  descendant 
of  the  last  Counts  of  Toulouse.  On  arriving  in  Paris  as  the 
pope's  legate,  he  made  use  there  of  violent  and  inconsiderate 
language  ;  he  even  affirmed,  it  was  said,  that  St.  Louis  had 
predicted  the  disappearance  of  his  line  in  the  third  generation, 
and  that  King  Philip  was  only  an  illegitimate  descendant  of 
Charlemagne.  He  was  accused  of  having  incessantly  labored 
to  excite  revolts  against  the  king  in  the  south,  at  one  time  for 
the  advantage  of  the  local  lords,  at  another  in  favor  of  foreign 
enemies  of  the  kingdom.  Being  summoned  before  the  king 
and  his  council  at  Senlis  (October  14,  1301),  he  denied,  but 
with  an  air  of  arrogance  and  aggression,  the  accusations  against 
him.  Philip  had,  at  that  time,  as  his  chief  councillors,  lay- 
lawyers,  servants  passionately  attached  to  the  kingship.  They 
were  Peter  Flotte  his  chancellor,  William  of  Nogaret,  judge- 
major  at  Beaucaire,  and  William  of  Plasian,  Lord  of  Vezenobre, 
the  two  latter  belonging,  as  Bernard  de  Saisset  belonged,  to 
Southern  France,  and  determined  to  withstand,  in  the  south  as 
well  as  the  north,  the  domination  of  ecclesiastics.  They,  in 
their  turn,  rose  up  against  the  doctrine  and  language  of  the 
Bishop  of  Pamiers.  He  was  arrested  and  committed  to  the 
keeping  of  the  Archbishop  of  Narbonne :  and  Philip  sent  to 
Rome  his  chancellor  Peter  Flotte  himself  and  William  of 
Nogaret,  with  orders  to  demand  of  the  pope  "  that  he  should 


Chap.  XVIII.]       THE   KINGSHIP   IN   FKANCE.  179 

avenge  the  wrongs  of  God,  the  king,  and  the  whole  kingdom, 
by  depriving  of  his  orders  and  every  clerical  privilege .  that  man 
whose  longer  life  would  taint  the  places  he  inhabited ;  and  this 
in  order  that  the  king  might  make  of  him  a  sacrifice  to  God  in 
the  way  of  justice,  for  there  could  be  no  hope  of  his  amend- 
ment if  he  were  suffered  to  live,  seeing  that,  from  his  youth  up, 
he  had  always  lived  ill,  and  that  baseness  and  abandonment  only 
became  more  and  more  confirmed  in  him  by  inveterate  habit." 

To  this  violent  and  threatening  language  Boniface  replied  by 
changing  the  venue  to  his  own  personal  tribunal  in  the  case  of 
the  Bishop  of  Pamiers.  "  We  do  bid  thy  majesty,"  he  wrote 
to  the  king,  "  to  give  this  bishop  free  leave  to  depart  and  come 
to  us,  for  we  do  desire  his  presence.  We  do  warn  thee  to  have 
all  his  goods  restored  to  him,  not  to  stretch  out  for  the  future 
thy  rapacious  hands  towards  the  like  things,  and  not  to  offend 
the  Divine  Majesty  or  the  dignity  of  the  Apostolic  See,  lest  we 
be  forced  to  employ  some  other  remedy ;  for  thou  must  know 
that,  unless  thou  canst  allege  some  excuse  founded  on  reason 
and  truth,  we  do  not  see  how  thou  shouldest  escape  the  sentence 
of  the  holy  canons  for  having  laid  rash  hands  on  this  bishop." 

"  My  power, — the  spiritual  power," — said  the  pope  to  the 
Chancellor  of  France,  "  embraces  the  temporal,  and  includes 
it."  "  Be  it  so,"  answered  Peter  Flotte ;  "but  your  power  is 
nominal,  the  king's  real." 

Here  was  a  coarse  challenge  hurled  by  the  crown  at  the 
tiara:  and  Boniface  VIII.  unhesitatingly  accepted  it.  But, 
instead  of  keeping  the  advantage  of  a  defensive  position  by 
claiming,  in  the  name  of  lawful  right,  the  liberties  and  im- 
munities of  the  Church,  he  assumed  the  offensive  against  the 
kingship  by  proclaiming  the  supremacy  of  the  Holy  See  in 
things  temporal  as  well  as  spiritual,  and  by  calling  upon  Philip 
the  Handsome  to  acknowledge  it.  On  the  5th  of  December, 
1301,  he  addressed  to  the  king,  commencing  with  the  words, 
"Hearken,  most  dear  son"  (Ausculta,  carissime  fill),  a  long  bull, 
in  which,  with  circumlocutions  and  expositions  full  of  obscurity 


180  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.     [Chap.  XVIII. 

and  subtlety,  he  laid  down  and  affirmed,  at  bottom,  the  prin- 
ciple of  the  final  sovereignty  of  the  spiritual  power,  being  of 
divine  origin,  over  every  temporal  power,  being  of  human  crea- 
tion. "  In  spite  of  the  insufficiency  of  our  deserts,"  said  he, 
"  God  hath  established  us  above  kings  and  kingdoms  by  impos- 
ing upon  us,  in  virtue  of  the  Apostolic  office,  the  duty  of  pluck- 
ing away,  destroying,  dispersing,  dissipating,  building  up  and 
planting  in  His  name  and  according  to  His  doctrine ;  to  the  end 
that,  in  tending  the  flock  of  the  Lord,  we  may  strengthen  the 
weak,  heal  the  sick,  bind  up  the  broken  limbs,  raise  the  fallen, 
and  pour  wine  and  oil  into  all  wounds.  Let  none,  then,  most 
dear  son,  persuade  thee  that  thou  hast  no  superior,  and  that 
thou  art  not  subject  to  the  sovereign  head  of  the  ecclesiastical 
hierarchy ;  for  he  who  so  thinketh  is  beside  himself ;  and  if  he 
obstinately  affirm  any  such  thing,  he  is  an  infidel,  and  hath  no 
place  any  longer  in  the  fold  of  the  good  Shepherd."  At  the 
same  time  Boniface  summoned  the  bishops  of  France  to  a  coun- 
cil at  Rome,  "  in  order  to  labor  for  the  preservation  of  the  liber- 
ties of  the  Catholic  Church,  the  reformation  of  the  kingdom, 
the  amendment  of  the  king,  and  the  good  government  of 
France." 

Philip  the  Handsome  and  his  councillors  did  not  misconceive 
the  tendency  of  such  language,  however  involved  and  full  of 
specious  reservations  it  might  be.  The  final  supremacy  of  the 
pope  in  the  body  politic,  and  over  all  sovereigns,  meant  the  ab- 
sorption of  the  laic  community  in  the  religious,  and  the  abolition 
of  the  State's  independence,  not  in  favor  of  the  national  Church, 
but  to  the  advantage  of  the  foreign  head  of  the  universal 
Church.  The  defenders  of  the  French  kingship  formed  a  better 
estimate  than  was  formed  at  Rome  of  the  effect  which  would  be 
produced  by  such  doctrine  on  France,  in  the  existing  condition 
of  the  French  mind ;  they  entered  upon  no  theological  and  ab- 
stract polemics ;  they  confined  themselves  entirely  to  setting  in 
a  vivid  light  the  pope's  pretensions  and  their  consequences,  feel- 
ing sure  that,  by  confining  themselves  to  this  question,  they 


Chap.  XVIIL]        THE  KINGSHIP  IN   FRANCE.  181 

would  enlist  in  their  opposition  not  only  all  laymen,  nobles,  and 
commoners,  but  the  greater  part  of  the  French  ecclesiastics 
themselves,  who  were  no  strangers  to  the  feeling  of  national 
patriotism,  and  to  whom  the  pope's  absolute  power  in  the  body 
politic  was  scarcely  more  agreeable  than  the  king's.  In  order  to 
make  a  strong  impression  upon  the  public  mind,  there  was  pub- 
lished at  Paris,  as  the  actual  text  of  the  pope's  bull,  a  very  short 
summary  of  his  long  bull,  "  Hearken,  most  dear  Son"  in  the  fol- 
lowing terms :  "  Boniface,  bishop,  servant  of  the  servants  of 
God,  to  Philip,  King  of  the  French.  Fear  thou  God,  and  keep 
His  commandments.  We  would  have  thee  to  know  that  thou 
art  subject  unto  us  in  things  spiritual  and  temporal.  The  pres- 
entation to  benefices  and  prebends  appertaineth  to  thee  in  no 
wise.  If  thou  have  the  keeping  of  certain  vacancies,  thou  art 
bound  to  reserve  the  revenues  of  them  for  the  successors  to 
them.  If  thou  have  made  any  presentations,  we  declare  them 
void,  and  revoke  them.  We  consider  as  heretics  all  those  who 
believe  otherwise."  Together  with  this  document  there  was  put 
in  circulation  the  king's  answer  to  the  pope,  in  the  following 
terms :  "  Philip,  by  the  grace  of  God,  King  of  the  French,  to 
Boniface,  who  giveth  himself  out  for  sovereign  pontiff,  little  or 
no  greeting.  Let  thy  Extreme  Fatuity  know  that  we  be  subject 
to  none  in  things  temporal,  that  the  presentation  to  churches 
and  prebends  that  be  vacant  belongeth  to  us  of  kingly  right, 
that  the  revenues  therefrom  be  ours,  that  presentations  already 
made  or  to  be  made  be  valid  both  now  and  hereafter,  that  we 
will  firmly  support  the  possessors  of  them  to  thy  face  and  in  thy 
teeth,  and  that  we  do  hold  as  senseless  and  insolent  those  who 
think  otherwise."  The  pope  disavowed,  as  a  falsification,  the 
summary  of  his  long  bull ;  and  there  is  nothing  to  prove  that 
the  unseemly  and  insulting  letter  of  Philip  the  Handsome  was 
sent  to  Rome.  But,  at  bottom,  the  situation  of  affairs  remained 
the  same ;  indeed,  it  did  not  stop  where  it  was.  On  the  11th 
of  February,  1302,  the  bull,  Hearken,  most  dear  Son,  was  sol- 
emnly burned  at  Paris  in  presence  of  the  king  and  a  numerous 


182  POPULAR   HISTORY  OF   FRANCE.     [Chap.  XVIII. 

multitude.  Philip  convoked,  for  the  8th  of  April  following,  an 
assembly  of  the  barons,  bishops,  and  chief  ecclesiastics,  and  of 
deputies  from  the  communes  to  the  number  of  two  or  three 
for  each  city,  all  being  summoned  "  to  deliberate  on  certain 
affairs  which  in  the  highest  degree  concern  the  king,  the  king- 
dom, the  churches,  and  all  and  sundry.''  This  assembly,  which 
really  met  on  the  10th  of  April,  at  Paris,  in  the  church  of  Notre- 
Dame,  is  reckoned  in  French  history  as  the  first  "  states-general." 
The  three  estates  wrote  separately  to  Rome  ;  the  clergy  to  the 
pope  himself,  the  nobility  and  the  deputies  of  the  communes  to 
the  cardinals,  all,  however,  protesting  against  the  pope's  preten- 
sions in  matters  temporal,  the  two  laic  orders  writing  in  a  rough 
and  threatening  tone,  the  clergy  making  an  appeal  "  to  the  wis- 
dom and  paternal  clemency  of  the  Holy  Father,  with  tearful 
accents,  and  sobs  mingled  with  their  tears."  The  king  evidently 
had  on  his  side  the  general  feeling  of  the  nation:  and  the  news 
from  Rome  was  not  of  a  kind  to  pacify  him.  In  spite  of  the 
king's  formal  prohibition,  forty-five  French  bishops  had  repaired 
to  the  council  summoned  by  the  pope  for  All  Saints'  day,  1302, 
and,  after  this  meeting,  a  papal  decree  of  November  18  had  de- 
clared, "  There  be  two  swords,  the  temporal  and  the  spiritual ; 
both  are  in  the  power  of  the  Church,  but  one  is  held  by  the 
Church  herself,  the  other  by  kings  only  with  the  assent  and  by 
sufferance  of  the  sovereign  pontiff.  Every  human  being  is  sub- 
ject to  the  Roman  pontiff;  and  to  believe  this  is  necessary  to 
salvation."  Philip  made  a  seizure  of  the  temporalities  of  such 
bishops  as  had  been  present  at  that  council,  and  renewed  his 
prohibition  forbidding  them  to  leave  the  kingdom.  Boniface 
ordered  those  who  had  not  been  to  Rome  to  attend  there  within 
three  months ;  and  the  cardinal  of  St.  Marcellinus,  legate  of  the 
Holy  See,  called  a  fresh  council  in  France  itself,  without  the 
king's  knowledge.  On  both  sides,  there  were  at  one  time  words 
of  conciliation  and  attempts  to  keep  up  appearances  of  respect, 
at  another  new  explosions  of  complaints  and  threats;  but, 
amidst  all  these  changes  of  language,  the  struggle  was  day  by 


Chap.  XVIIL]         THE   KINGSHIP   IN   FRANCE.  183 

day  becoming  more  violent,  and  preparations  were  being  made 
by  both  parties  for  something  other  than  threats. 

On  the  12th  of  March  and  the  13th  of  June,  1303,  at  two 
assemblies  of  barons,  prelates,  and'  legists  held  at  the  Louvre,  in 
presence  of  the  king,  which  several  historians  have  considered 
to  have  been  states-general,  one  of  the  crown's  most  intimate 
advisers,  William  of  Plasian,  proposed,  against  Boniface,  a  form 
of  accusation  which  imputed  to  him,  beyond  his  ambition  and 
his  claims  to  absolutism,  crimes  as  improbable  as  they  were  hate- 
ful. It  was  demanded  that  the  Church  should  be  governed  by 
a  lawful  pope,  and  the  king,  as  defender  of  the  faith,  was 
pressed  to  appeal  to  the  convocation  of  a  general  council.  On 
the  24th  of  June,  in  the  palace-garden,  a  great  crowd  of  people 
assembled ;  and,  after  a  sermon  preached  in  French,  the  form  of 
accusation  against  Boniface,  and  the  appeal  to  the  future  council, 
were  solemnly  made  public.  The  pope  meanwhile  did  not  re- 
main idle  ;  he  protested  against  the  imputations  of  which  he  was 
the  subject.  "  Forty  years  ago,"  he  said,  "  we  were  admitted  a 
doctor  of  laws,  and  learned  that  both  powers,  the  temporal  and 
the  spiritual,  be  ordained  of  God.  Who  can  believe  that  such 
fatuity  can  have  entered  into  our  mind?  But  who  can  also 
deny  that  the  king  is  subject  unto  us  on  the  score  of  sin  ?  .  .  . 
We  be  disposed  to  grant  unto  him  every  grace.  ...  So  long  as 
I  was  cardinal,  I  was  French  in  heart ;  since  then,  we  have  tes- 
tified how  we  do  love  the  king.  .  .  .  Without  us,  he  would  not 
have  even  one  foot  on  the  throne.  We  do  know  all  the  secrets 
of  the  kingdom.  We  do  know  how  the  Germans,  the  Burgun- 
dians,  and  the  folks  who  speak  the  Oc  tongue  do  love  the  king. 
If  he  mend  not,  we  shall  know  how  to  chastise  him,  and  treat 
him  as  a  little  boy  (sicut  unum  garcionern),  though  greatly 
against  our  will."  On  the  13th  of  April,  Boniface  declared 
Philip  excommunicate  if  he  persisted  in  preventing  the  prelates 
from  attending  at  Rome.  Philip,  being  warned,  effected  the 
arrest  at  Troyes  of  the  priest  who  was  bringing  the  pope's  letter 
to  his  legate  in  France.     The  legate  took  to  flight.     Boniface, 


184  POPULAR   HISTORY  OF  FRANCE.     [Chap.  XVIII. 

on  his  side,  being  warned  that  the  king  was  appealing  against 
him  to  an  approaching  council,  declared  by  a  bull,  on  the  15th 
of  August,  that  it  appertained  to  him  alone  to  summon  a  council. 
After  this  bull,  there  was  full  expectation  that  another  would 
be  launched,  which  would  pronounce  the  deposition  of  the  king. 
And  a  new  bull  was  actually  prepared  at  Rome  on  the  5th  of 
September,  and  was  to  be  published  on  the  8th.  It  did  not 
expressly  depose  the  king ;  it  merely  announced  that  measures 
would  be  taken  more  serious  even  than  excommunication. 
Philip  had  taken  his  precautions.  He  had  demanded  and  ob- 
tained from  the  great  towns,  churches,  and  universities  more 
than  seven  hundred  declarations  of  support  in  his  appeal  to  the 
future  council,  and  an  engagement  to  take  no  notice  of  the  de- 
cree which  might  be  issued  by  the  pope  to  release  the  king's 
subjects  from  their  oath  of  allegiance.  Only  a  few,  and  amongst 
them  the  Abbot  of  Citeaux,  gave  him  a  refusal.  The  order  of 
the  Templars  gave  only  a  qualified  support.  At  the  approaching 
advent  of  the  new  bull  which  was  being  anticipated,  the  king 
resolved  to  act  still  more  roughly  and  speedily.  Notification 
must  be  sent  to  the  pope  of  the  king's  appeal  to  the  future 
council.  Philip  could  no  longer  confide  this  awkward  business 
to  his  chancellor,  Peter  Flotte ;  for  he  had  fallen  at  Courtrai,  in 
the  battle  against  the  Flemings.  William  of  Nogaret  undertook 
it,  at  the  same  time  obtaining  from  the  king  a  sort  of  blank 
commission  authorizing  and  ratifying  in  advance  all  that,  under 
the  circumstances,  he  might  consider  it  advisable  to  do.  Notifi- 
cation of  the  appeal  had  to  be  made  to  the  pope  at  Anagni,  his 
native  town,  whither  he  had  gone  for  refuge,  and  the  people  of 
which,  being  zealous  in  his  favor,  had  already  dragged  in  the 
mud  the  lilies  and  the  banner  of  France.  Nogaret  was  bold, 
ruffianly,  and  clever.  He  repaired  in  haste  to  Florence,  to  the 
king's  banker,  got  a  plentiful  supply  of  money,  established  com- 
munications in  Anagni,  and  secured,  above  all,  the  co-operation 
of  Sciarra  Colonna,  who  was  passionately  hostile  to  the  pope, 
had  been  formerly  proscribed  by  him,  and,  having  fallen  into  the 


z*mm 


ffe'|«'M 


COLONXA   STRIKING   THE   POPE.  —  Page  IS; 


Chap.  XVIII.]       THE   KINGSHIP   IN   FRANCE.  185 

hands  of  corsairs,  had  worked  at  the  oar  for  them  during  many 
a  year  rather  than  reveal  his  name  and  be  sold  to  Boniface  Gae- 
tani.  On  the  7th  of  September,  1003,  Colonna  and  his  asso- 
ciates introduced  Nogaret  and  his  following  into  Anagni,  with 
shouts  of  "  Death  to  Pope  Boniface !  Long  live  the  King  of 
France !  "  The  populace,  dumbfounded,  remained  motionless. 
The  pope,  deserted  by  all,  even  by  his  own  nephew,  tried  to 
touch  the  heart  of  Colonna  himself,  whose  only  answer  was  a 
summons  to  abdicate,  and  to  surrender  at  discretion.  "  Those 
be  hard  words,"  said  Boniface,  and  burst  into  tears.  But  this 
old  man,  seventy-five  years  of  age,  had  a  proud  spirit,* and  a 
dignity  worthy  of  his  rank.  "  Betrayed,  like  Jesus,"  said  he, 
"  shall  I  die  ;  but  I  will  die  pope."  He  donned  the  cloak  of  St. 
Peter,  put  the  crown  of  Constantine  upon  his  head,  took  in  his 
hands  the  keys  and  the  cross,  and,  as  his  enemies  drew  nigh,  he 
said  to  them,  "  Here  is  my  neck,  and  here  is  my  head."  There 
is  a  tradition,  of  considerable  trustworthiness,  that  Sciarra  Co- 
lonna would  have  killed  him,  and  did  with  his  mailed  hand  strike 
him  in  the  face.  Nogaret,  however,  prevented  the  murder,  and 
confined  himself  to  saying,  "  Thou  caitiff  pope,  confess,  and 
behold  the  goodness  of  my  lord,  the  King  of  France,  who, 
though  so  far  away  from  thee  in  his  own  kingdom,  both  watch- 
eth  over  and  defendeth  thee  by  my  hand."  "  Thou  art  of  her- 
etic family,"  answered  the  pope :  "  at  thy  hands  I  look  for  mar- 
tyrdom." The  captivity  of  Boniface  VIII. ,  however,  lasted  only 
three  days ;  for  the  people  of  Anagni,  having  recovered  them- 
selves, and  seeing  the  scanty  numbers  of  the  foreigners,  rose 
and  delivered  the  pope.  The  old  man  was  conducted  to  the 
public  square,  crying  like  a  child.  "Good  folks,"  said  he  to  the 
crowd  around  him,  "  ye  have  seen  that  mine  enemies  have  robbed 
me  of  all  my  goods  and  those  of  the  Church.  Behold  me  here 
as  poor  as  Job.  Nought  have  I  either  to  eat  or  drink.  If  there 
be  any  good  woman  who  would  give  me  an  alms  of  wine  and 
bread,  I  would  bestow  upon  her  God's  blessing  and  mine."  All 
the  people  began  to  shout,  "  Long  live  the  Holy  Father!  "  He 
vol.  ii.  24 


186  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.     [Chap.  XVIII. 

was  reconducted  into  his  palace :  "  and  women  thronged  to- 
gether thither,  bringing  him  bread,  wine,  and  water.  Finding 
no  proper  vessels,  they  poured  them  into  a  chest.  .  .  .  Any  one 
who  liked  went  in,  and  talked  with  the  pope,  as  with  any  other 
beggar."  So  soon  as  the  agitation  was  somewhat  abated,  Boni- 
face set  out  for  Rome,  with  a  great  crowd  following  him  ;  but 
he  was  broken  down  in  spirit  and  body.  Scarcely  had  he 
arrived  when  he  fell  into  a  burning  fever,  which  traditions, 
probably  invented  and  spread  by  his  enemies,  have  represented 
as  a  fit  of  mad  rage.  He  died  on  the  11th  of  October,  1303, 
without  having  recovered  his  reason.  It  is  reported  that  his 
predecessor,  Celestine  V.,  had  said  of  him,  "  Thou  risest  like  a 
fox;  thou  wilt  rule  like  a  lion,  and  die  like  a  dog."  The  last 
expression  was  unjustified.  Boniface  VIII.  was  a  fanatic,  ambi- 
tious, proud,  violent,  and  crafty,  but  with  sincerity  at  the  bot- 
tom of  his  prejudiced  ideas,  and  stubborn  and  blind  in  his  fits  of 
temper :  his  death  was  that  of  an  old  lion  at  bay. 

We  were  bound  to  get  a  good  idea  and  understanding  of  this 
violent  struggle  between  the  two  sovereigns  of  France  and 
Rome,  not  only  because  of  its  dramatic  interest,  but  because  it 
marks  an  important  period  in  the  history  of  the  papacy  and  its 
relations  with  foreign  governments.  From  the  tenth  century 
and  the  accession  of  the  Capetians  the  policy  of  the  Holy  See 
had  been  enterprising,  bold,  full  of  initiative,  often  even  aggres- 
sive, and  more  often  than  not  successful  in  the  prosecution  of 
its  designs.  Under  Innocent  III.  it  had  attained  the  apogee  of 
its  strength  and  fortune.  At  that  point  its  motion  forward  and 
upward  came  to  a  stop.  Boniface  had  not  the  wit  to  recognize 
the  changes  which  had  taken  place  in  European  communities, 
and  the  decided  progress  which  had  been  made  by  laic  influences 
and  civil  powers.  He  was  a  stubborn  preacher  of  maxims  he 
could  no  longer  practise.  He  was  beaten  in  his  enterprise  ; 
and  the  papacy,  even  on  recovering  from  his  defeat,  found 
itself  no  longer  what  it  had  been  before  him.  Starting  from  the 
fourteenth  century  we  find  no  second  Gregory  VII.,  or  Innocent 


Chap.  XVIII.]       THE  KINGSHIP   IN   FRANCE.  187 

III.  Without  expressly  abandoning  their  principles,  the  policy 
of  the  Holy  See  became  essentially  defensive  and  conservative, 
more  occupied  in  the  maintenance  than  the  aggrandizement  of 
itself,  and  sometimes  even  more  stationary  and  stagnant  than 
was  required  by  necessity  or  recommended  by  foresight.  The 
posture  assumed  and  the  conduct  adopted  by  the  earliest  suc- 
cessors of  Boniface  VIII.  showed  how  far  the  situation  of  the 
papacy  was  altered,  and  how  deep  had  been  the  penetration 
of  the  stab  which,  in  this  conflict  between  the  two  aspirants 
to  absolute  power,  Philip  the  Handsome  had  inflicted  on  his 
rival. 

On  the  22d  of  October,  1303,  eleven  days  after  the  death  of 
Boniface  VIII.,  Benedict  XL,  son  of  a  simple  shepherd,  was 
elected  at  Rome  to  succeed  him.  Philip  the  Handsome  at  once 
sent  his  congratulations,  but  by  William  of  Plasian,  who  had 
lately  been  the  accuser  of  Boniface,  and  who  was  charged  to 
hand  to  the  new  pope,  on  the  king's  behalf,  a  very  bitter  memo- 
randum touching  his  predecessor.  Philip  at  the  same  time 
caused  an  address  to  be  presented  to  himself  in  his  own  king- 
dom and  in  the  vulgar  tongue,  called  a  supplication  from  the 
people  of  France  to  the  king  against  Boniface.  Benedict  XI. 
exerted  himself  to  give  satisfaction  to  the  conqueror ;  he  de- 
clared the  Colonnas  absolved ;  he  released  the  barons  and  prel- 
ates of  France  from  the  excommunications  pronounced  against 
them ;  and  he  himself  wrote  to  the  king  to  say  that  he  would 
behave  towards  him  as  the  good  shepherd  in  the  parable,  who 
leaves  ninety  and  nine  sheep  to  go  after  one  that  is  lost. 
Nogaret  and  the  direct  authors  of  the  assault  at  Anagni  were 
alone  excepted  from  this  amnesty.  The  pope  reserved  for  a 
future  occasion  the  announcement  of  their  absolution,  when  he 
should  consider  it  expedient.  But  on  the  7th  of  June,  1304, 
instead  of  absolving  them,  he  launched  a  fresh  bull  of  excom- 
munication against  "  certain  wicked  men  who  had  dared  to  com- 
mit a  hateful  crime  against  a  person  of  good  memory,  Pope 
Boniface."     A  month  after  this  bull  Benedict  XI.  was  dead.     It 


188  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.     [Chap.  XVIII. 

is  related  that  a  young  woman  had  put  before  him  at  table  a 
basket  of  fresh  figs,  of  which  he  had  eaten  and  which  had  poi- 
soned him.  The  chroniclers  of  the  time  impute  this  crime  to 
William  of  Nogaret,  to  the  Colonnas,  and  to  their  associates  at 
Anagni ;  a  single  one  names  King  Philip.  Popular  credulity  is 
great  in  matters  of  poisoning  ;  but  one  thing  is  certain,  namely, 
that  no  prosecution  was  ordered.  There  is  no  proof  of  Philip's 
complicity  ;  but,  full  as  he  was  of  hatred  and  dissimulation,  he 
was  of  those  who  do  their  best  to  profit  by  crimes  which  they 
have  not  ordered.  It  is  clear  that  such  a  pope  as  Benedict  XI. 
would  not  do  either  for  his  passions  or  his  purposes. 

He  found  one,  however,  from  whom  he  flattered  himself,  not 
without  reason,  that  he  would  get  more  complete  and  efficient 
co-operation.  The  cardinals,  after  being  assembled  in  conclave 
for  six  months  at  Perouse,  were  unable  to  arrive  at  an  agree- 
ment about  a  choice  of  pope.  As  a  way  out  of  their  embarrass- 
ment, they  entered  into  a  secret  convention  to  the  effect  that 
one  of  them,  a  confidant  of  Philip  the  Handsome,  should  make 
known  to  him  that  the  Archbishop  of  Bordeaux,  Bertrand  de 
Goth,  was  the  candidate  in  respect  of  whom  they  could  agree. 
He  was  a  subject  of  the  King  of  England  and  a  late  favorite  of 
Boniface  VIII.,  who  had  raised  him  from  the  bishopric  of  Com- 
minges  to  the  archbishopric  of  Bordeaux.  He  was  regarded  as 
an  enemy  of  France  ;  but  Philip  knew  what  may  be  done  with 
an  ambitious  man,  whose  fortune  is  only  half  made,  by  offering 
to  advance  him  to  his  highest  point.  He,  therefore,  appointed 
a  meeting  with  the  archbishop.  "  Hearken,"  said  he  :  "  I  have 
in  my  grasp  wherewithal  to  make  thee  pope  if  I  please ;  and 
provided  that  thou  promise  me  to  do  six  things  I  demand  of  thee, 
I  will  confer  upon  thee  that  honor ;  and  to  prove  to  thee  that  I 
have  the  power,  here  be  letters  and  advices  I  have  received 
from  Rome."  After  having  heard  and  read,  "  the  Gascon, 
overcome  with  joy,"  says  the  contemporary  historian  Villani, 
"  threw  himself  at  the  king's  feet,  saying,  '  My  lord,  now  know 
I  that  thou  art  my  best  friend,  and  that  thou  wouldest  render 


Chap.  XVIII.]       THE   KINGSHIP   IN   FRANCE.  189 

me  good  for  evil.  It  is  for  thee  to  command  and  for  me  to 
obey:  such  will  ever  be  my  disposition.'"  Philip  then  set 
before  him  his  six  demands,  amongst  which  there  were  only  two 
which  could  have  caused  the  archbishop  any  uneasiness.  The 
fourth  purported  that  he  should  condemn  the  memory  of  Pope 
Boniface.  "  The  sixth,  which  is  important  and  secret,  I  keep 
to  myself,"  said  Philip,  "  to  make  known  to  thee  in  due  time 
and  place."  The  archbishop  bound  himself  by  oath  taken  on 
the  sacred  host  to  accomplish  the  wishes  of  the  king,  to  whom, 
furthermore,  he  gave  as  hostages  his  brother  and  his  two 
nephews.  Six  weeks  after  this  interview,  on  the  5th  of  June, 
1305,  Bertrand  de  Goth  was  elected  pope,  under  the  name  of 
Clement  V. 

It  was  not  long  before  he  gave  the  king  the  most  certain 
pledge  of  his  docility.  After  having  held  his  pontifical  court 
at  Bordeaux  and  Poitiers  he  declared  that  he  would  fix  his 
residence  in  France,  in  the  county  of  Yenaissin,  at  A^vignon,  a 
territory  which  Philip  the  Bold  had  remitted  to  Pope  Gregory 
X.  in  execution  of  a  deed  of  gift  from  Raymond  YIL,  Count  of 
Toulouse.  It  was  renouncing,  in  fact,  if  not  in  law,  the  practi- 
cal independence  of  the  papacy  to  thus  place  it  in  the  midst 
of  the  dominions  and  under  the  very  thumb  of  the  King  of 
France.  "  I  know  the  Gascons,"  said  the  old  Italian  Cardinal 
Matthew  Rosso,  dean  of  the  Sacred  College,  when  he  heard  of 
this  resolution;  "it  will  be  long  ere  the  Church  comes  back  to 
Italy."  And,  indeed,  it  was  not  until  sixty  years  afterwards, 
under  Pope  Gregory  XL,  that  Italy  regained  possession  of  the 
Holy  See  ;  and  historians  called  this  long  absence  the  Babylo- 
nish captivity.  Philip  lost  no  time  in  profiting  by  his  propin- 
quity to  make  the  full  weight  of  his  power  felt  by  Clement  Y. 
He  claimed  from  him  the  fulfilment  of  the  fourth  promise  Ber- 
trand de  Goth  had  made  in  order  to  become  pope,  which  was  the 
condemnation  of  Boniface  VIII.  ;  and  he  revealed  to  him  the 
sixth,  that  "  important  and  secret  one  which  he  kept  to  himself 
to  make  known  to  him  in  due  time  and  place  ;  "  and  it  was  the 


190  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.     [Chap.  XVIII. 

persecution  and  abolition  of  the  order  of  the  Templars.  The 
pontificate  of  Clement  V.  at  Avignon  was,  for  him,  a  nine 
years'  painful  effort,  at  one  time  to  elude  and  at  another  to 
accomplish,  against  the  grain,  the  heavy  engagements  he  had 
incurred  towards  the  king. 

He  found  the  condemnation  of  Boniface  VIII.  rather  an  em- 
barrassment than  a  danger.  He  shrank,  on  becoming  pope, 
from  condemning  the  pope  his  predecessor,  who  had  appointed 
him  archbishop  and  cardinal.  Instead  of  an  official  condemna- 
tion, he  offered  the  king  satisfaction  in  various  ways.  It  was 
only  from  headstrong  pride  and  to  cloak  himself  in  the  eyes  of 
his  subjects  that  Philip  clung  to  the  condemnation  of  the  mem- 
ory of  Boniface  ;  and,  after  a  long  period  of  mutual  tergiversa- 
tion, ifc  was  agreed  in  the  end  to  let  bygones  be  bj^gones.  The 
principal  promoter  of  the  assault  at  Anagni,  William  of  Noga- 
ret,  was  the  sole  exception  to  the  amnesty  ;  and  the  pope  im- 
posed upon  him,  by  way  of  penance,  merely  the  obligation  of 
making  a  pilgrimage  to  the  Holy  Land,  which  he  never  fulfilled. 
On  the  contrary  he  remained,  in  great  favor,  about  the  person 
of  King  Philip,  who  made  him  his  chancellor,  and  gave  him,  in 
Languedoc,  some  rich  lands,  amongst  others  those  of  Calvisson, 
Massillargues,  and  Manduel.  For  Philip  knew  how  to  liberally 
reward  and  faithfully  support  his  servants. 

And  he  knew  still  better  how  to  persecute  and  ruin  his  foes. 
He  had  no  reason,  of  a  public  kind,  to  consider  the  Templars  his 
enemies.  It  is  true  that  they  had  given  him  a  merely  qualified 
support  on  his  appeal  to  the  council  against  Boniface  VIII. ; 
but,  both  before  and  after  that  occurrence,  Philip  had  shown 
them  marks  of  the  most  friendly  regard.  He  had  asked  to  be 
affiliated  to  their  order ;  and  he  had  borrowed  their  money. 
During  a  violent  outbreak  of  the  populace  at  Paris,  in  1306,  on 
the  occasion  of  a  fresh  tax,  he  had  sought  and  found  a  refuge 
in  the  very  palace  of  the  Temple,  where  the  chapters-general 
were  held  and  where  its  treasures  were  kept.  It  is  said  that 
the  sight  of  these  treasures  kindled  the  longings  of  Philip,  and 


Chap.  XVIII.]        THE  KINGSHIP   IN  FRANCE.  191 

his  ardent  desire  to  get  hold  of  them.  At  the  time  of  the  for- 
mation of  the  order,  in  1119,  after  the  first  crusade,  the  Tem- 
plars were  far  from  being  rich.  Nine  knights  had  joined  to- 
gether to  protect  the  arrival  and  sojourning  of  pilgrims  in  Pales- 
tine ;  and  Baldwin  II. ,  the  third  Christian  King  of  Jerusalem, 
had  given  them  a  lodging  in  his  own  palace,  to  the  east  of  Solo- 
mon's temple,  whence  they  had  assumed  the  name  of  "  Poor 
United  Champions  of  Christ  and  the  Temple."  Their  valor 
and  pious  devotion  had  soon  rendered  them  famous  in  the  West 
as  well  as  the  East ;  and  St.  Bernard  had  commended  them  to 
the  Christian  world.  At  the  council  of  Troyes,  in  1128,  Pope 
Honorius  II.  had  recognized  their  order,  and  regulated  their 
dress,  a  white  mantle,  on  which  Pope  Eugenius  III.  placed  a 
red  cross.  In  1172  the  rules  of  the  order  were  drawn  up  in 
seventy-two  articles,  and  the  Templars  began  to  exempt  them- 
selves from  the  jurisdiction  of  the  patriarch  of  Jerusalem, 
recognizing  that  of  the  pope  only.  Their  number  and  their 
importance  rapidly  increased.  In  1130  the  Emperor  Lothaire 
II.  gave  them  lands  in  the  Duchy  of  Brunswick.  They  received 
other  gifts  in  the  Low  Countries,  in  Spain,  and  in  Portugal. 
After  a  voyage  to  the  West,  Hugh  des  Payens,  the  chief  of  the 
nine  Templars,  returned  to  the  East  with  three  hundred  knights 
enlisted  in  his  order;  and  a  hundred  and  fifty  years  after  its 
foundation  the  order  of  the  Temple,  divided  into  fourteen  or 
fifteen  provinces,  —  four  in  the  East  and  ten  or  eleven  in  the 
West,  —  numbered,  it  is  said,  eighteen  or  twenty  thousand 
knights,  mostly  French,  and  nine  thousand  commanderies  or 
territorial  benefices,  the  revenue  of  which  is  calculated  at  fifty- 
four  millions  of  francs  (about  ten  and  a  half  million  dollars). 
It  was  an  army  of  monks,  once  poor  men  and  hard-working 
soldiers,  but  now  rich  and  idle,  and  abandoned  to  all  the  temp- 
tations of  riches  and  idleness.  There  was  still  some  fine  talk 
about  Jerusalem,  pilgrims,  and  crusades.  The  popes  still  kept 
these  words  prominent,  either  to  distract  the  Western  Christians 
from  intestine  quarrels,  or  to  really  promote  some  new  Christian 


192  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF  FRANCE.     [Chap.  XVIII. 

effort  in  the  East.  The  Isle  of  Cyprus  was  still  a  small  Chris- 
tian kingdom,  and  the  warrior-monks,  who  were  vowed  to  the 
defence  of  Christendom  in  the  East,  the  Templars  and  the  Hos- 
pitallers, had  still  in  Palestine,  Syria,  Armenia,  and  the  adjacent 
islands,  certain  battles  to  fight  and  certain  services  to  render  to 
the  Christian  cause.  But  these  were  events  too  petty  and  too 
transitory  to  give  serious  employment  to  the  two  great  religious 
and  military  orders,  whose  riches  and  fame  were  far  beyond  the 
proportions  of  their  public  usefulness  and  their  real  strength ;  a 
position  fraught  with  perils  for  them,  for  it  inspired  the  sover- 
eign powers  of  the  state  with  the  spirit  rather  of  jealousy  than 
fear  of  them. 

In  1805  the  king  and  the  pope  simultaneously  summoned 
from  Cyprus  to  France  the  Grand  Master  of  the  Templars, 
James  de  Molay,  a  Burgundian  nobleman,  who  had  entered  the 
order  when  he  was  almost  a  child,  had  valiantly  fought  the  infi- 
dels in  the  East,  and  fourteen  years  ago  had  been  unanimously 
elected  Grand  Master.  For  several  months  he  was  well  treated, 
to  all  appearance,  by  the  two  monarchs.  Philip  said  he  wished 
to  discuss  with  him  a  new  plan  of  crusade,  and  asked  him  to 
stand  godfather  to  one  of  his  children ;  and  Molay  was  pall- 
bearer at  the  burial  of  the  king's  sister-in-law.  Meanwhile  the 
most  sinister  reports,  the  gravest  imputations,  were  bruited 
abroad  against  the  Templars  ;  they  were  accused  "  of  things  dis- 
tasteful, deplorable,  horrible  to  think  on,  horrible  to  hear,  of 
betraying  Christendom  for  the  profit  of  the  infidels,  of  secretly 
denying  the  faith,  of  spitting  upon  the  cross,  of  abandoning 
themselves  to  idolatrous  practices  and  the  most  licentious  lives." 
In  1307,  in  the  month  of  October,  Philip  the  Handsome  and 
Clement  V.  had  met  at  Poitiers ;  and  the  king  asked  the  pope 
to  authorize  an  inquiry  touching  the  Templars  and  the  accusa- 
tions made  against  them.  James  de  Molay  was  forthwith  ar- 
rested at  Paris  with  a  hundred  and  forty  of  his  knights  ;  sixty 
met  the  same  fate  at  Beaucaire  ;  many  others  all  over  France  ; 
and  their  property  was  put  in  the  king's  keeping  for  the  service 


Chap.  XVIII.]        THE  KINGSHIP   IN   FRANCE.  193 

of  the  Holy  Land.  On  the  12th  of  August,  1308,  a  papal  bull 
appointed  a  grand  commission  of  inquiry  charged  to  conduct,  at 
Paris,  an  examination  of  the  matter  "  according  as  the  law 
requires."  The  Archbishops  of  Canterbury  in  England  and  of 
Mayence,  Cologne,  and  Treves  in  Germany,  were  also  named 
commissioners,  and  the  pope  announced  that  he  would  deliver 
his  judgment  within  two  years,  at  a  general  council  held  at 
Vienne,  in  Dauphiny,  territory  of  the  Empire.  Twenty-six 
princes  and  laic  lords,  the  Dukes  of  Burgundy  and  Brittany, 
the  Counts  of  Flanders,  Nevers,  and  Auxerre,  and  the  Count  of 
Talleyrand  de  Perigord,  offered  themselves  as  the  Templars' 
accusers,  and  gave  powers  of  attorney  to  act  in  their  names. 
On  the  22d  of  November,  1309,  the  Grand  Master,  Molay,  was, 
called  before  the  commission.  At  first  he  firmly  denied  all  that 
his  order  had  been  accused  of ;  afterwards  he  became  confused 
and  embarrassed,  said  that  he  had  not  the  ability  to  undertake 
the  defence  of  his  order,  that  he  was  but  a  poor,  unlettered 
knight,  that  the  pope  had  reserved  to  himself  the  decision  in  the 
case,  and  that,  for  his  part,  he  only  wished  the  pope  would  sum- 
mon him  as  soon  as  possible  before  him.  On  the  28th  of  March, 
1310,  five  hundred  and  forty-six  knights,  who  had  declared  their 
readiness  to  defend  their  order,  appeared  before  the  commission ; 
and  they  were  called  upon  to  choose  proctors  to  speak  in  their 
name.  "We  ought  also,  then,"  said  they,  "to  have  been  tor- 
tured by  proxy  only."  The  prisoners  were  treated  with  the 
uttermost  rigor  and  reduced  to  the  most  wretched  plight :  "  out 
of  their  poor  pay  of  twelve  deniers  per  diem  they  were  obliged 
to  pay  for  their  passage  by  water  to  go  and  submit  to  their 
examination  in  the  city,  and  to  give  money  besides  to  the  man 
who  undid  and  riveted  their  fetters."  In  October,  1310,  at  a 
council  held  at  Paris,  a  large  number  of  Templars  were  exam- 
ined, several  acquitted,  some  subjected  to  special  penances,  and 
fifty-four  condemned  as  heretics  to  the  stake,  and  burned  the 
same  day  in  a  field  close  to  the  abbey  of  St.  Anthony ;  and 
nine  others  met  the  same  fate  at  the  hands  of  a  council  held  at 
vol.  ii.  25 


194  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.     [Chap.  XVIII. 

Senlis  the  same  year:  "  They  confessed  under  their  tortures," 
says  Bossuet,  "  but  they  denied  at  their  execution."  The  busi- 
ness dragged  slowly  on ;  different  decisions  were  pronounced, 
according  to  the  place  of  decision ;  the  Templars  were  pro- 
nounced innocent,  on  the  17th  of  June,  1310,  at  Ravenna,  on 
the  1st  of  July  at  Mayence,  and  on  the  21st  of  October  at  Sal- 
amanca ;  and  in  Aragon  they  made  a  successful  resistance.  Eu- 
rope began  to  be  wearied  at  the  uncertainty  of  such  judgments 
and  at  the  sight  of  such  horrible  spectacles ;  and  Clement  V. 
felt  some  shame  at  thus  persecuting  monks  who,  on  more  than 
one  occasion,  had  shown  devotion  to  the  Holy  See. 

But  Philip  the  Handsome  had  attained  his  end:  he  was  in 
possession  of  the  Templars'  riches.  On  the  11th  of  June,  1311, 
the  commission  of  inquiry  terminated  its  sittings,  and  the  report 
of  its  labors  concluded  as  follows:  "For  further  precaution,  we 
have  deposited  the  said  procedure,  drawn  up  by  notaries  in  au- 
thentic form,  in  the  treasury  of  Notre-Dame,  at  Paris,  to  be 
shown  to  none  without  special  letters  from  Your  Holiness." 
The  council-general,  announced  in  1308  by  the  pope,  to  decide 
definitively  upon  this  great  case,  was  actually  opened  at  Vienne, 
in  October,  1311 ;  more  than  three  hundred  bishops  assembled ; 
and  nine  Templars  presented  themselves  for  the  defence  of  their 
order,  saying  that  there  were  at  Lyons,  or  in  the  neighborhood, 
fifteen  hundred  or  two  thousand  of  their  brethren,  ready  to  sup- 
port them.  The  pope  had  the  nine  defenders  arrested,  adjourned 
the  decision  once  more,  and,  on  the  22d  of  March  in  the  follow- 
ing year,  at  a  mere  secret  consistory,  made  up  of  the  most  docile 
bishops  and  a  few  cardinals,  pronounced,  solely  on  his  pontifical 
authority,  the  abolition  of  the  order  of  the  Temple :  and  it  was 
subsequently  proclaimed  officially,  on  the  3d  of  April,  1312,  in 
presence  of  the  king  and  the  council.     And  not  a  soul  protested. 

The  Grand  Master,  James  de  Molay,  in  confinement  at  Gisors, 
survived  his  order.  The  pope  had  reserved  to  himself  the  task 
of  trying  him ;  but,  disgusted  with  the  work,  he  committed  the 
trial  to  ecclesiastical  commissioners  assembled  at  Paris,  before 


Chap.  XVIIL]       THE  KINGSHIP   IN   FRANCE.  195 

whom  Molay  was  brought,  together  with  three  of  the  principal 
leaders  of  the  Temple,  survivors  like  himself.  They  had  read 
over  to  them,  from  a  scaffold  erected  in  the  forecourt  of  Notre- 
Dame,  the  confessions  they  had  made,  but  lately,  under  torture, 
and  it  was  announced  to  them  that  they  were  sentenced  to  per- 
petual imprisonment.  Remorse  had  restored  to  the  Grand  Mas- 
ter all  his  courage ;  he  interrupted  the  reading,  and  disavowed 
his  avowals,  protesting  that  torture  alone  had  made  him  speak 
so  falsely,  and  maintaining  that 

"  Of  his  grand  order  nought  he  wist 
'Gainst  honor  and  the  laws  of  Christ." 

One  of  his  three  comrades  in  misfortune,  the  commander  of 
Normandy,  made  aloud  a  similar  disavowal.  The  embarrassed 
judges  sent  the  two  Templars  back  to  the  provost  of  Paris,  and 
put  off  their  decision  to  the  following  day;  but  Philip  the 
Handsome,  without  waiting  for  the  morrow,  and  without  con- 
sulting the  judges,  ordered  the  two  Templars  to  be  burned  the 
same  evening,  March  11,  1314,  at  the  hour  of  vespers,  in  Ile-de- 
la-Cite*,  on  the  site  of  the  present  Place  Dauphine.  A  poet- 
chronicler,  Godfrey  of  Paris,  who  was  a  witness  of  the  scene, 
thus  describes  it :  "  The  Grand  Master,  seeing  the  fire  prepared, 
stripped  himself  briskly ;  I  tell  just  as  I  saw ;  he  bared  himself 
to  his  shirt,  light-heartedly  and  with  a  good  grace,  without  a 
whit  of  trembling,  though  he  was  dragged  and  shaken  mightily. 
They  took  hold  of  him  to  tie  him  to  the  stake,  and  they  were 
binding  his  hands  with  a  cord,  but  he  said  to  them,  4  Sirs,  suffer 
me  to  fold  my  hands  a  while,  and  make  my  prayer  to  God,  for 
verily  it  is  time.  I  am  presently  to  die ;  but  wrongfully,  God 
wot.  Wherefore  woe  will  come,  ere  long,  to  those  who  con- 
demn us  without  a  cause.     God  will  avenge  our  death.'  " 

It  was  probably  owing  to  these  last  words  that  there  arose  a 
popular  rumor,  soon  spread  abroad,  that  James  de  Molay,  at  his 
death,  had  cited  the  pope  and  the  king  to  appear  with  him,  the 
former  at  the  end  of  forty  days,  and  the  latter  within  a  year, 


196  POPULAR   HISTORY    OF   FRANCE.     [Chap.  XVIII. 

before  the  judgment-seat  of  God.  Events  gave  a  sanction  to 
the  legend :  for  Clement  V.  actually  died  on  the  20th  of  April, 
1314,  and  Philip  the  Handsome  on  the  29th  of  November,  1314, 
the  pope,  undoubtedly,  uneasy  at  the  servile  acquiescence  he 
had  shown  towards  the  king,  and  the  king  expressing  some  sor- 
row for  his  greed  and  for  the  imposts  (maltote,  maletolta,  or  Mack 
mail)  with  which  he  had  burdened  his  people. 

In  excessive  and  arbitrary  imposts,  indeed,  consisted  the  chief 
grievance  for  which  France,  in  the  fourteenth  century,  had  to 
complain  of  Philip  the  Handsome ;  and,  probably,  it  was  the 
only  wrong  for  which  he  upbraided  himself.  Being  badly 
wounded,  out  hunting,  by  a  wild  boar,  and  perceiving  himself 
to  be  in  bad  case,  he  gave  orders  for  his  removal  to  Fontaine- 
bleau,  and  there,  says  Godfrey  of  Paris,  the  poet-chronicler  just 
quoted  in  reference  to  the  execution  of  the  Templars,  "  he  said 
and  commanded  that  his  children,  his  brothers,  and  his  other 
friends  should  be  sent  for.  They  were  no  long  time  in  coming  ; 
they  entered  Fontainebleau,  into  the  chamber  where  the  king 
was,  and  where  there  was  very  little  light.  So  soon  as  they 
were  there,  they  asked  him  how  he  was,  and  he  answered,  '  111 
in  body  and  in  soul ;  if  our  Lady  the  Virgin  save  me  not  by  her 
prayers,  I  see  that  death  will  seize  me  here ;  I  have  put  on  so 
many  talliages,  and  laid  hands  on  so  much  riches,  that  I  shall 
never  be  absolved.  Sirs,  I  know  that  I  am  in  such  estate  that 
I  shall  die,  methinks,  to-night,  for  I  suffer  grievous  hurt  from 
the  curses  which  pursue  me :  there  will  be  no  fine  tales  to  be 
told  of  me."  Philip's  anxiety  about  his  memory  was  not  with- 
out foundation ;  his  greed  is  the  vice  which  has  clung  to  his 
name ;  not  only  did  he  load  his  subjects  with  poll  taxes  and 
other  taxes  unauthorized  by  law  and  the  traditions  of  the  feudal 
system ;  not  only  was  he  unjust  and  cruel  towards  the  Templars 
in  order  to  appropriate  their  riches ;  but  he  committed,  over  and 
over  again,  that  kind  of  spoliation  which  imports  most  trouble 
into  the  general  life  of  a  people  ;  he  debased  the  coinage  so  often 
and  to  such  an  extent,  that  he  was  everywhere  called  "  the  base 


Chap.  XVIIL]       THE   KINGSHIP   IN   FRANCE.  197 

coiner."  This  was  a  financial  process  of  which  none  of  his  pred- 
ecessors, neither  St.  Louis  nor  Philip  Augustus,  had  set  him  an 
example,  though  they  had  quite  as  many  costly  wars  and  expe- 
ditions to  keep  up  as  he  had.  Some  chroniclers  of  the  four- 
teenth century  say  that  Philip  the  Handsome  was  particularly 
munificent  and  lavish  towards  his  family  and  his  servants ;  but 
it  is  difficult  to  meet  with  any  precise  proof  of  this  allegation, 
and  we  must  impute  the  financial  difficulties  of  Philip  the  Hand- 
some to  his  natural  greed,  and  to  the  secret  expenses  entailed 
upon  him  by  his  policy  of  dissimulation  and  hatred,  rather  than 
to  his  lavish  generosity.  As  he  was  no  stranger  to  the  spirit  of 
order  in  his  own  affairs,  he  tried,  towards  the  end  of  his  reign, 
to  obtain  an  exact  account  of  his  finances.  His  chief  adviser, 
Enguerrand  de  Marigny,  became  his  superintendent-general,  and 
on  the  19th  of  January,  1311,  at  the  close  of  a  grand  council 
held  at  Poissy,  Philip  passed  an  ordinance  which  established, 
under  the  headings  of  expenses  and  receipts,  two  distinct  tables 
and  treasuries,  one  for  ordinary  expenses,  the  civil  list,  and  the 
payment  of  the  great  bodies  of  the  state,  incomes,  pensions, 
&c,  and  the  other  for  extraordinary  expenses.  The  ordinary 
expenses  were  estimated  at  one  hundred  and  seventy-seven 
thousand  five  hunded  livres  of  Tours,  that  is,  according  to  M. 
Boutaric,  who  published  this  ordinance,  fifteen  million  nine  hun- 
dred thousand  francs  (about  three  million  eighty-four  thousand 
dollars).  Numerous  articles  regulated  the  execution  of  the 
measure  ;  and  the  royal  treasurers  took  an  oath  not  to  reveal, 
within  two  years,  the  state  of  their  receipts,  save  to  Enguerrand 
de  Marigny,  or  by  order  of  the  king  himself.  This  first  budget 
of  the  French  monarchy  dropped  out  of  sight  after  the  death 
of  Philip  the  Handsome,  in  the  reaction  which  took  place  against 
his  government.  "  God  forgive  him  his  sins,"  says  Godfrey  of 
Paris,  "for  in  the  time  of  his  reign  great  loss  came  to  France,  and 
there  was  small  regret  for  him."  The  general  history  of  France 
has  been  more  indulgent  towards  Philip  the  Handsome  than  his 
contemporaries  were  ;  it  has  expressed  its  acknowledgments  to 


198  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.     [Chap.  XVIII. 

him  for  the  progress  made,  under  his  sway,  by  the  particular  and 
permanent  characteristics  of  civilization  in  France.  The  kingly 
domain  received  in  the  Pyrenees,  in  Aquitaine,  in  Franche- 
Comte,  and  in  Flanders  territorial  increments  which  extended 
national  unity.  The  legislative  power  of  the  king  penetrated 
into  and  secured  footing  in  the  lands  of  his  vassals.  The  scat- 
tered semi-sovereigns  of  feudal  society  bowed  down  before  the 
incontestable  pre-eminence  of  the  kingship,  which  gained  the 
victory  in  its  struggle  against  the  papac}T.  Far  be  it  from  us  to 
attach  no  importance  to  the  intervention  of  the  deputies  of  the 
communes  in  the  states-general  of  1302,  on  the  occasion  of  that 
struggle :  it  was  certainly  homage  paid  to  the  nascent  existence 
of  the  third  estate  ;  but  it  is  puerile  to  consider  that  homage  as 
a  real  step  towards  public  liberties  and  constitutional  govern- 
ment. The  burghers  of  1302  did  not  dream  of  such  a  thing ; 
Philip,  knowing  that  their  feelings  were,  in  this  instance,  in 
accordance  with  his  own,  summoned  them  in  order  to  use  their 
co-operation  as  a  useful  appendage  for  himself,  and  absolute 
kingship  gained  more  strength  by  the  co-operation  than  the 
third  estate  acquired  influence.  The  general  constitution  of  the 
judiciary  power,  as  delegated  from  the  kingship,  the  creation  of 
several  classes  of  magistrates  devoted  to  this  great  social  func- 
tion, and,  especially,  the  strong  organization  and  the  permanence 
of  the  parliament  of  Paris,  were  far  more  important  progressions 
in  the  development  of  civil  order  and  society  in  France.  But  it 
was  to  the  advantage  of  absolute  power  that  all  these  facts  were 
turned,  and  the  perverted  ability  of  Philip  the  Handsome  con- 
sisted in  working  them  for  that  single  end.  He  was  a  profound 
egotist ;  he  mingled  with  his  imperiousness  the  leaven  of  craft 
and  patience,  but  he  was  quite  a  stranger  to  the  two  principles 
which  constitute  the  morality  of  governments,  respect  for  rights 
and  patriotic  sympathy  with  public  sentiment;  he  concerned 
himself  about  nothing  but  his  own  position,  his  own  passions, 
his  own  wishes,  or  his  own  fancies.  And  this  is  the  radical  vice 
of  absolute  power.     Philip  the  Handsome  is  one  of  the  kings  of 


Chap.  XVIII.]       THE   KINGSHIP   IN   FRANCE.  199 

France  who  have  most  contributed  to  stamp  upon  the  kingship 
in  France  this  lamentable  characteristic,  from  which  France  has 
suffered  so  much,  even  in  the  midst  of  her  glories,  and  which,  in 
our  time,  was  so  grievously  atoned  for  by  the  kingship  itself 
when  it  no  longer  deserved  the  reproach. 

Philip  the  Handsome  left  three  sons,  Louis  X.,  called  le  ITutin 
(the  Quarreller),  Philip  V.,  called  the  Long,  and  Charles  IV., 
called  the  Handsome,  who,  between  them,  occupied  the  throne 
only  thirteen  years  and  ten  months.  Not  one  of  them  distin- 
guished himself  by  his  personal  merits ;  and  the  events  of  the 
three  reigns  hold  scarcely  a  higher  place  in  history  than  the 
actions  of  the  three  kings  do.  Shortly  before  the  death  of 
Philip  the  Handsome,  his  greedy  despotism  had  already  excited 
amongst  the  people  such  lively  discontent  that  several  leagues 
were  formed  in  Champagne,  Burgundy,  Artois,  and  Beauvaisis, 
to  resist  him  ;  and  the  members  of  these  leagues,  "  nobles  and 
commoners,"  say  the  accounts,  engaged  to  give  one  another  mu- 
tual support  in  their  resistance,  "at  their  own  cost  and  charges." 
After  the  death  of  Philip  the  Handsome,  the  opposition  made 
head  more  extensively  and  effectually ;  and  it  produced  two 
results :  ten  ordinances  of  Louis  the  Quarreller  for  redressing 
the  grievances  of  the  feudal  aristocracy,  for  one ;  and,  for  the 
other,  the  trial  and  condemnation  of  Enguerrand  de  Marigny, 
"  coadjutor  and  rector  of  the  kingdom  "  under  Philip  the  Hand- 
some. Marigny,  at  the  death  of  the  king  his  master,  had  against 
him,  rightly  or  wrongly,  popular  clamor  and  feudal  hostility, 
especially  that  of  Charles  of  Yalois,  Philip  the  Handsome's 
brother,  who  acted  as  leader  of  the  barons.  "  What  has  be- 
come of  all  those  subsidies,  and  all  those  sums  produced  by  so 
much  tampering  with  the  coinage  ?  "  asked  the  new  king  one 
day  in  council.  "  Sir,"  said  Prince  Charles,  "it  was  Marigny 
who  had  the  administration  of  everything ;  and  it  is  for  him  to 
render  an  account."  "I  am  quite  ready,"  said  Marigny. 
"  This  moment,  then,"  said  the  prince.  "  Most  willingly,  my 
lord :    I   gave   a  great    portion    to   you."     "  You  lie ! "   cried 


200  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.     [Chap.  XVIII. 

Charles.  "  Nay,  you,  by  God!"  replied  Marigny.  The  prince 
drew  his  sword,  and  Marigny  was  on  the  point  of  doing  the 
same.  The  quarrel  was,  however,  stifled  for  the  moment ;  but, 
shortly  afterwards,  Marigny  was  accused,  condemned  by  a  com- 
mission assembled  at  Vincennes,  and  hanged  on  the  gibbet  of 
Montfaucon  which  he  himself,  it  is  said,  had  set  up.  He  walked 
to  execution  with  head  erect,  saying  to  the  crowd,  "  Good 
folks,  pray  for  me."  Some  months  afterwards,  the  young  king, 
who  had  indorsed  the  sentence  reluctantly,  since  he  did  not 
well  know,  between  his  father's  brother  and  minister,  which 
of  the  two  was  guilty,  left  by  will  a  handsome  legacy  to 
Marigny's  widow  "in  consideration  of  the  great  misfortune 
which  had  befallen  her  and  hers;"  and  Charles  of  Yalois 
himself,  falling  into  a  decline,  and  considering  himself  stricken 
by  the  hand  of  God  "asa  punishment  for  the  trial  of  Enguer- 
rand  de  Marigny,"  had  liberal  alms  distributed  to  the  poor  with 
this  injunction :  "  Pray  God  for  Enguerrand  de  Marigny  and 
for  the  Count  of  Yalois."  None  can  tell,  after  this  lapse  of 
time,  whether  this  remorse  proceeded  from  weakness  of  mind 
or  sincerity  of  heart,  and  which  of  the  two  personages  was 
really  guilty ;  but,  ages  afterwards,  such  is  the  effect  of  blind, 
popular  clamor  and  unrighteous  judicial  proceedings,  that  the 
condemned  lives  in  history  as  a  victim  and  all  but  a  guile- 
less being. 

Whilst  the  feudal  aristocracy  was  thus  avenging  itself  of 
kingly  tyranny,  the  spirit  of  Christianity  was  noiselessly  pur- 
suing its  work,  the  general  enfranchisement  of  men.  Louis 
the  Quarreller  had  to  keep  up  the  war  with  Flanders,  which 
was  continually  being  renewed  ;  and  in  order  to  find,  without 
hateful  exactions,  the  necessary  funds,  he  was  advised  to  offer 
freedom  to  the  serfs  of  his  domains.  Accordingly  he  issued, 
on  the  3d  of  July,  1315,  an  edict  to  the  following  effect : 
"  Whereas,  according  to  natural  right,  every  one  should  be 
born  free,  and  whereas,  by  certain  customs  which,  from  long 
age,  have  been  introduced  into  and  preserved  to  this  day  in 


Chap.  XVIII.]       THE   KINGSHIP   IN   FRANCE.  201 

our  kingdom  .  .  .  many  persons  amongst  our  common  people 
have  fallen  into  the  bonds  of  slavery,  which  much  displeaseth 
us ;  we,  considering  that  our  kingdom  is  called  and  named  the 
kingdom  of  the  Free  (Franks),  and  willing  that  the  matter 
should  in  verity  accord  with  the  name  .  .  .  have  by  our  grand 
council  decreed  and  do  decree  that  generally  throughout  our 
whole  kingdom  .  .  .  such  serfdoms  be  redeemed  to  freedom, 
on  fair  and  suitable  conditions  .  .  .  and  we  will,  likewise,  that 
all  other  lords  who  have  body-men  (or  serfs)  do  take  example 
by  us  to  bring  them  to  freedom."  Great  credit  has  very  properly 
been  given  to  Louis  the  Quarreller  for  this  edict ;  but  it  has  not 
been  sufficiently  noticed  that  Philip  the  Handsome  had  himself 
set  his  sons  the  example,  for,  on  confirming  the  enfranchisement 
granted  by  his  brother  Charles  to  the  serfs  in  the  countship  of 
Yalois,  he  had  based  his  decree  on  the  following  grounds : 
"  Seeing  that  every  human  being,  which  is  made  in  the  image 
of  Our  Lord,  should  generally  be  free  by  natural  right."  The 
history  of  Christian  communities  is  full  of  these  happy  incon- 
sistencies ;  when  a  moral  and  just  principle  is  implanted  in 
the  soul,  absolute  power  itself  does  not  completely  escape 
from  its  healthy  influence,  and  the  good  makes  its  way  athwart 
the  evil,  just  as  a  source  of  fresh  and  pure  water  ceases  not 
to  flow  through  and  spread  over  a  land  wasted  by  the  crimes 
or  follies  of  men. 

It  is  desirable  to  give  an  idea  and  an  example  of  the  conduct 
which  was  already  beginning  to  be  adopted  and  of  the  authority 
which  was  already  beginning  to  be  exercised  in  France,  amidst 
the  feudal  reaction  that  set  in  against  Philip  the  Handsome  and 
amidst  the  feeble  government  of  his  sons,  by  that  magistracy, 
of  such  recent  and  petty  origin,  which  was  called  upon  to 
defend,  in  the  king's  name,  order  and  justice  against  the  count- 
less anarchical  tyrannies  scattered  over  the  national  territory. 
During  the  early  years  of  the  fifteenth  century,  a  lord  of 
Gascony,  Jordan  de  Lisle,  "  of  most  noble  origin,  but  most 
ignoble  deeds,"  says   a   contemporary  chronicler,    "  abandoned 

vol.  ii.  26 


202  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.     [Chap.  XVIII. 

himself  to  all  manner  of  irregularities  and  crimes."  Confident 
in  his  strength  and  his  connections,  —  for  Pope  John  XXII.  had 
given  his  niece  to  him  in  marriage,  —  "  he  committed  homicides, 
entertained  evil-doers  and  murderers,  countenanced  robbers, 
and  rose  against  the  king.  He  killed,  with  the  man's  own 
truncheon,  one  of  the  king's  servants  who  was  wearing  the 
royal  livery  according  to  the  custom  of  the  royal  servants. 
When  his  misdeeds  were  known,  he  was  summoned  for  trial  to 
Paris;  and  he  went  thither  surrounded  by  a  stately  retinue 
of  counts,  nobles,  and  barons  of  Aquitaine.  He  was  confined, 
at  first,  in  the  prison  of  Chatelet ;  and  when  a  hearing  had 
been  accorded  to  his  reply  and  to  what  he  alleged  in  his  defence 
against  the  crimes  of  which  he  was  accused,  he  was  finally 
pronounced  worthy  of  death  by  the  doctors  of  the  parliament, 
and  on  Trinity-eve  he  was  dragged  at  the  tail  of  horses  and 
hanged,  as  he  deserved,  on  the  public  gallows  at  Paris."  It 
was,  assuredly,  a  difficult  and  a  dangerous  task  for  the  obscure 
members  of  this  parliament,  scarcely  organized  as  it  was  and 
quite  lately  established  for  a  permanence  in  Paris,  to  put  down 
such  disorders  and  such  men.  In  the  course  of  its  long  career 
the  French  magistracy  has  committed  many  faults  ;  it  has  more 
than  once  either  aspired  to  overstep  its  proper  limits  or  failed 
to  fulfil  all  its  duties ;  but  history  would  be  ungrateful  and 
untruthful  not  to  bring  into  the  light  the  virtues  this  body 
has  displayed  from  its  humble  cradle,  and  the  services  it  has 
rendered  to  France,  to  her  security  at  home,  to  her  moral 
dignity,  to  her  intellectual  glory,  and  to  the  progress  of  her 
civilization  with  all  its  brilliancy  and  productiveness,  though 
it  is  still  so  imperfect  and  so  thwarted. 

Another  fact  which  has  held  an  important  place  in  the 
history  of  France,  and  exercised  a  great  influence  over  her 
destinies,  likewise  dates  from  this  period ;  and  that  is  the 
exclusion  of  women  from  the  succession  to  the  throne,  by  virtue 
of  an  article,  ill  understood,  of  the  Salic  law.  The  ancient 
law  of  the  Salian  FYanks,  drawn  up,  probably,  in  the  seventh 


Chap.  XVIII.]       THE   KINGSHIP   IN   FRANCE.  203 

century,  had  no  statute  at  all  touching  this  grave  question ;  the 
article  relied  upon  was  merely  a  regulation  of  civil  law  pre- 
scribing that  "no  portion  of  really  Salic  land  (that  is  to  say, 
in  the  full  territorial  ownership  of  the  head  of  the  family) 
should  pass  into  the  possession  of  women,  but  it  should  belong 
altogether  to  the  virile  sex."  From  the  time  of  Hugh  Capet 
heirs  male  had  never  been  wanting  to  the  crown,  and  the 
succession  in  the  male  line  had  been  a  fact  uninterrupted 
indeed,  but  not  due  to  prescription  or  law.  Louis  the  Quar- 
reller,  at  his  death,  on  the  5th  of  June,  1316,  left  only  a 
daughter,  but  his  second  wife,  Queen  Clemence,  was  pregnant. 
As  soon  as  Philip  the  Long,  then  Count  of  Poitiers,  heard  of 
his  brother's  death,  he  hurried  to  Paris,  assembled  a  certain 
number  of  barons,  and  got  them  to  decide  that  he,  if  the  queen 
should  be  delivered  of  a  son,  should  be  regent  of  the  kingdom 
for  eighteen  years ;  but  that  if  she  should  bear  a  daughter  he 
should  immediately  take  possession  of  the  crown.  On  the  15th 
of  November,  1316,  the  queen  gave  birth  to  a  son,  who  was 
named  John,  and  who  figures  as  John  I.  in  the  series  of  French 
kings ;  but  the  child  died  at  the  end  of  five  days,  and  on  the  6th 
of  January,  1317,  Philip  the  Long  was  crowned  king  at  Rheims. 
He  forthwith  summoned  —  there  is  no  knowing  exactly  where 
and  in  what  numbers  —  the  clergy,  barons,  and  third  estate, 
who  declared,  on  the  2d  of  February,  that  "  the  laws  and 
customs,  inviolably  observed  among  the  Franks,  excluded 
daughters  from  the  crown."  There  was  no  doubt  about  the 
fact ;  but  the  law  was  not  established,  nor  even  in  conformity 
with  the  entire  feudal  system  or  with  general  opinion.  And 
"thus  the  kingdom  went,"  says  Froissart,  "as  seemeth  to 
many  folks,  out  of  the  right  line."  But  the  measure  was 
evidently  wise  and  salutary  for  France  as  well  as  for  the  king- 
ship ;  and  it  was  renewed,  after  Philip  the  Long  died  on  the 
3d  of  January,  1322,  and  left  daughters  only,  in  favor  of  his 
brother  Charles  the  Handsome,  who  died,  in  his  turn,  on  the 
1st  of  January,  1328,  and  likewise  left  daughters  only.     The 


204  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.     [Chap.  XVIII. 

question  as  to  the  succession  to  the  throne  then  lay  between  the 
male  line  represented  by  Philip,  Count  of  Valois,  grandson  of 
Philip  the  Bold  through  Charles  of  Valois,  his  father,  and  the 
female  line  represented  by  Edward  III.,  King  of  England, 
grandson,  through  his  mother,  Isabel,  sister  of  the  late  King 
Charles  the  Handsome,  of  Philip  the  Handsome.  A  war  of 
more  than  a  century's  duration  between  France  and  England 
was  the  result  of  this  lamentable  rivalry,  which  all  but  put  the 
kingdom  of  France  under  an  English  king  ;  but  France  was 
saved  by  the  stubborn  resistance  of  the  national  spirit  and  by 
Joan  of  Arc,  inspired  by  God.  One  hundred  and  twenty- 
eight  years  after  the  triumph  of  the  national  cause,  and  four 
years  after  the  accession  of  Henry  IV.,  which  was  still  dis- 
puted by  the  League,  a  decree  of  the  parliament  of  Paris, 
dated  the  28th  of  June,  1593,  maintained,  against  the  pre- 
tensions of  Spain,  the  authority  of  the  Salic  law,  and  on  the 
1st  of  October,  1T89,  a  decree  of  the  National  Assembly,  in 
conformity  with  the  formal  and  unanimous  wish  of  the  memo- 
rials drawn  up  by  the  states-general,  gave  a  fresh  sanction 
to  that  principle,  which,  confining  the  heredity  of  the  crown 
to  the  male  line,  had  been  salvation  to  the  unity  and  nationality 
of  the  monarchy  in  France. 


Chap.  XIX.]     THE    COMMUTES   AND   THIRD   ESTATE.        205 


CHAPTER    XIX. 

THE    COMMUNES    AND    THE    THIRD    ESTATE. 

THE  history  of  the  Merovingians  is  that  of  barbarians  invad- 
ing Gaul  and  settling  upon  the  ruins  of  the  Roman 
empire.  The  history  of  the  Carlovingians  is  that  of  the  greatest 
of  the  barbarians  taking  upon  himself  to  resuscitate  the  Roman 
empire,  and  of  Charlemagne's  descendants  disputing  amongst 
themselves  for  the  fragments  of  his  fabric,  as  fragile  as  it  was 
grand.  Amidst  this  vast  chaos  and  upon  this  double  ruin  was 
formed  the  feudal  system,  which  by  transformation  after  trans- 
formation became  ultimately  France.  Hugh  Capet,  one  of  its 
chieftains,  made  himself  its  king.  The  Capetians  achieved  the 
French  kingship.  We  have  traced  its  character  and  progressive 
development  from  the  eleventh  to  the  fourteenth  century, 
through  the  reigns  of  Louis  the  Fat,  of  Philip  Augustus,  of  St. 
Louis,  and  of  Philip  the  Handsome,  princes  very  diverse  and 
very  unequal  in  merit,  but  all  of  them  able  and  energetic.  This 
period  was  likewise  the  cradle  of  the  French  nation.  That  was 
the  time  when  it  began  to  exhibit  itself  in  its  different  elements, 
and  to  arise  under  monarchical  rule  from  the  midst  of  the  feudal 
system.  Its  earliest  features  and  its  earliest  efforts  in  the  long 
and  laborious  work  of  its  development  are  now  to  be  set  before 
the  reader's  eyes. 

The  two  words  inscribed  at  the  head  of  this  chapter,  the 
Communes  and  the  Third-Estate,  are  verbal  expressions  for  the 
two  great  facts  at  that  time  revealing  that  the  French  nation 
was  in  labor  of  formation.  Closely  connected  one  with  the 
other  and  tending  towards  the  same  end,  these  two  facts  are, 


206  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.     [Chap.  XIX. 

nevertheless,  very  diverse,  and  even  when  they  have  not  been 
confounded,  they  have  not  been  with  sufficient  clearness  distin- 
guished and  characterized,  each  of  them  apart.  They  are  diverse 
both  in  their  chronological  date  and  their  social  importance. 
The  Communes  are  the  first  to  appear  in  history.  They  appear 
there  as  local  facts,  isolated  one  from  another,  often  very  differ- 
ent in  point  of  origin,  though  analogous  in  their  aim,  and  in 
every  case  neither  assuming  nor  pretending  to  assume  any  place 
in  the  government  of  the  state.  Local  interests  and  rights,  the 
special  affairs  of  certain  populations  agglomerated  in  certain 
spots,  are  the  only  objects,  the  only  province  of  the  communes. 
With  this  purely  municipal  and  individual  character  they  come 
to  their  birth,  their  confirmation,  and  their  development  from 
the  eleventh  to  the  fourteenth  century ;  and  at  the  end  of  two 
centuries  they  enter  upon  their  decline,  they  occupy  far  less 
room  and  make  far  less  noise  in  history.  It  is  exactly  then  that 
the  Tliird  Estate  comes  to  the  front,  and  uplifts  itself  as  a  gen- 
eral fact,  a  national  element,  a  political  power.  It  is  the  suc- 
cessor, not  the  contemporary,  of  the  Communes  ;  they  contributed 
much  towards,  but  did  not  suffice  for  its  formation ;  it  drew 
upon  other  resources,  and  was  developed  under  other  influences 
than  those  which  gave  existence  to  the  communes.  It  has  sub- 
sisted, it  has  gone  on  growing  throughout  the  whole  course  of 
French  history ;  and  at  the  end  of  five  centuries,  in  1789,  when 
the  Communes  had  for  a  long  while  sunk  into  languishment  and 
political  insignificance,  at  the  moment  at  which  France  was 
electing  her  Constituent  Assembly,  the  Abbe*  Sieyes,  a  man  of 
powerful  rather  than  scrupulous  mind,  could  say,  "  What  is  the 
Tliird  Estate  ?  Everything.  What  has  it  hitherto  been  in  the 
body  politic  ?  Nothing.  What  does  it  demand  ?  To  be  some- 
thing." 

These  words  contain  three  grave  errors.  In  the  course  of 
government  anterior  to  1789,  so  far  was  the  third  estate  from 
being  nothing,  that  it  had  been  every  day  becoming  greater  and 
stronger.     What  was  demanded  for  it  in  1789  by  M.  Sieyes  and 


Chap.  XIX.]     THE  COMMUNES   AND   THIRD   ESTATE.       207 

his  friends  was  not  that  it  might  become  something,  but  that  it 
should  be  everything.  That  was  a  desire  beyond  its  right  and 
its  strength  ;  and  the  very  Revolution,  which  was  its  own  vic- 
tory, proved  this.  Whatever  may  have  been  the  weaknesses 
and  faults  of  its  foes,  the  third  estate  had  a  terrible  struggle  to 
conquer  them ;  and  the  struggle  was  so  violent  and  so  obstinate 
that  the  third  estate  was  broken  up  therein,  and  had  to  pay 
dearly  for  its  triumph.  At  first  it  obtained  thereby  despotism 
instead  of  liberty ;  and  when  liberty  returned,  the  third  estate 
found  itself  confronted  by  twofold  hostility,  that  of  its  foes  under 
the  old  regimen  and  that  of  the  absolute  democracy  which  claimed 
in  its  turn  to  be  everything.  Outrageous  claims  bring  about  in- 
tractable opposition  and  excite  unbridled  ambition.  What  there 
was  in  the  words  of  the  Abbe*  Sieves  in  1789  was  not  the  verity 
of  history ;  it  was  a  lying  programme  of  revolution. 

We  have  anticipated  dates  in  order  to  properly  characterize 
and  explain  the  facts  as  they  present  themselves,  by  giving  a 
glimpse  of  their  scope  and  their  attainment.  Now  that  we  have 
clearly  marked  the  profound  difference  between  the  third  estate 
and  the  communes,  we  will  return  to  the  communes  alone, 
which  had  the  priority  in  respect  of  time.  We  will  trace  the 
origin  and  the  composition  of  the  third  estate,  when  we  reach 
the  period  at  which  it  became  one  of  the  great  performers  in 
the  history  of  France  by  reason  of  the  place  it  assumed  and  the 
part  it  played  in  the  states-general  of  the  kingdom. 

In  dealing  with  the  formation  of  the  communes  from  the 
eleventh  to  the  fourteenth  century,  the  majority  of  the  French 
historians,  even  M.  Thierry,  the  most  original  and  clear-sighted 
of  them  all,  often  entitle  this  event  the  communal  revolution. 
This  expression  hardly  gives  a  correct  idea  of  the  fact  to  which 
it  is  applied.  The  word  revolution,  in  the  sense,  or  at  least  the 
aspect,  given  to  it  amongst  us  by  contemporary  events,  points 
to  the  overthrow  of  a  certain  regimen,  and  of  the  ideas  and 
authority  predominant  thereunder,  and  the  systematic  elevation 
in  their  stead  of  a  regimen  essentially  different  in  principle  and 


208  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.     [Chap.  XIX. 

in  fact.  The  revolutions  of  our  day  substitute,  or  would  fain 
substitute,  a  republic  for  a  monarchy,  democracy  for  aristocracy, 
political  liberty  for  absolute  power.  The  struggles  which  from 
the  eleventh  to  the  fourteenth  century  gave  existence  to  so 
many  communes  had  no  such  profound  character  ;  the  popula- 
tions did  not  pretend  to  any  fundamental  overthrow  of  the 
regimen  they  attacked ;  they  conspired  together,  they  swore 
together,  as  the  phrase  is  according  to  the  documents  of  the  time 
—  they  rose  to  extricate  themselves  from  the  outrageous  oppres- 
sion and  misery  they  were  enduring,  but  not  to  abolish  feudal 
sovereignty  and  to  change  the  personality  of  their  masters. 
When  they  succeeded  they  obtained  those  treaties  of  peace 
called  charters,  which  brought  about  in  the  condition  of  the 
insurgents  salutary  changes  accompanied  by  more  or  less  effec- 
tual guarantees.  When  they  failed  or  when  the  charters  were 
violated,  the  result  was  violent  reactions,  mutual  excesses ;  the 
relations  between  the  populations  and  their  lords  were  tempest- 
uous and  full  of  vicissitudes ;  but  at  bottom  neither  the  politi- 
cal regimen  nor  the  social  system  of  the  communes  was  altered. 
And  so  there  were,  at  many  spots  without  any  connection 
between  them,  local  revolts  and  civil  wars,  but  no  communal 
revolution. 

One  of  the  earliest  facts  of  this  kind  which  have  been  set 
forth  with  some  detail  in  history  clearly  shows  their  primitive 
character  ;  a  fact  the  more  remarkable  in  that  the  revolt  de- 
scribed by  the  chroniclers  originated  and  ran  its  course  in  the 
country  among  peasants  with  a  view  of  recovering  complete 
independence,  and  not  amongst  an  urban  population  with  a  view 
of  resulting  in  the  erection  of  a  commune.  Towards  the  end 
of  the  tenth  century,  under  Richard  II.,  Duke  of  Normandy, 
called  the  Good,  and  whilst  the  good  King  Robert  was  reigning 
in  France,  "  In  several  countships  of  Normandy,"  says  William 
of  Jumiege,  "  all  the  peasants,  assembling  in  their  conventicles, 
resolved  to  live  according  to  their  inclinations  and  their  own 
laws,  as  well  in  the  interior  of  the  forests  as  along  the  rivers, 


Chap.  XIX.]     THE  COMMUNES   AND   THIRD   ESTATE.         209 

and  to  reck  nought  of  any  established  right.  To  carry  out  this 
purpose  these  mobs  of  madmen  chose  each  two  deputies,  who 
were  to  form  at  some  central  point  an  assembly  charged  to  see 
to  the  execution  of  their  decrees.  As  soon  as  the  duke  (Rich- 
ard II.)  was  informed  thereof,  he  sent  a  large  body  of  men-at- 
arms  to  repress  this  audaciousness  of  the  country  districts  and  to 
scatter  this  rustic  assemblage.  In  execution  of  his  orders,  the 
deputies  of  the  peasants  and  many  other  rebels  were  forthwith 
arrested,  their  feet  and  hands  were  cut  off,  and  they  were  sent 
away  thus  mutilated  to  their  homes,  in  order  to  deter  their  like 
from  such  enterprises,  and  to  make  them  wiser,  for  fear  of  worse. 
After  this  experience  the  peasants  left  off  their  meetings  and 
returned  to  their  ploughs." 

It  was  about  eighty  years  after  the  event  when  the  monk 
William  of  Jumiege  told  the  story  of  this  insurrection  of  peas- 
ants so  long  anterior,  and  yet  so  similar  to  that  which  more  than 
three  centuries  afterwards  broke  out  in  nearly  the  whole  of 
Northern  France,  and  which  was  called  the  Jacquery.  Less 
than  a  century  after  William  of  Jumiege,  a  Norman  poet,  Robert 
Wace,  told  the  same  story  in  his  Romance  of  Ron,  a  history  in 
verse  of  Rollo  and  the  first  dukes  of  Normandy  :  "  The  lords  do 
us  nought  but  ill,"  he  makes  the  Norman  peasants  say:  "with 
them  we  have  nor  gain  nor  profit  from  our  labors ;  every  day  is 
for  us  a  day  of  suffering,  of  travail,  and  of  fatigue  ;  every  day 
our  beasts  are  taken  from  us  for  forced  labor  and  services  .  .  . 
why  put  up  with  all  this  evil,  and  why  not  get  quit  of  travail  ? 
Are  not  we  men  even  as  they  are  ?  Have  we  not  the  same 
stature,  the  same  limbs,  the  same  strength  —  for  suffering  ? 
Bind  we  ourselves  by  oath  ;  swear  we  to  aid  one  another ;  and 
if  they  be  minded  to  make  war  on  us,  have  we  not  for  every 
knight  thirty  or  forty  young  peasants  ready  and  willing  to  fight 
with  club,  or  boar-spear,  or  arrow,  or  axe,  or  stones,  if  they 
have  not  arms  ?  Learn  we  to  resist  the  knights,  and  we  shall 
be  free  to  hew  down  trees,  to  hunt  game,  and  to  fish  after  our 

VOL.  H.  27 


210  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.     [Chap.  XIX. 

fashion,  and  we  shall  work  our  will  on  flood  and  in  field  and 
wood." 

These  two  passages  have  already  been  quoted  in  Chapter  XIV. 
of  this  history  in  the  course  of  describing  the  general  condition 
of  France  under  the  Capetians  before  the  crusades,  and  they  are 
again  brought  forward  here  because  they  express  and  paint  to 
the  life  the  chief  cause  which  from  the  end  of  the  tenth  cen- 
tury led  to  so  many  insurrections  amongst  the  rural  as  well  as 
urban  populations,  and  brought  about  the  establishment  of  so 
many  communes. 

We  say  the  chief  cause  only,  because  oppression  and  insur- 
rection were  not  the  sole  origin  of  the  communes.  Evil,  moral 
and  material,  abounds  in  human  communities,  but  it  never  has 
the  sole  dominion  there ;  force  never  drives  justice  into  utter 
banishment,  and  the  ruffianly  violence  of  the  strong  never 
stifles  in  all  hearts  every  sympathy  for  the  weak.  Two  causes, 
quite  distinct  from  feudal  oppression,  viz.,  Roman  traditions  and 
Christian  sentiments,  had  their  share  in  the  formation  of  the 
communes  and  in  the  beneficial  results  thereof. 

The  Roman  municipal  regimen,  which  is  described  in  M. 
Guizot's  Essais  sur  VHlstoire  de  France  (1st  Essay,  pp.  1-44), 
did  not  everywhere  perish  with  the  empire  ;  it  kept  its  footing 
in  a  great  number  of  towns,  especially  in  those  of  Southern 
Gaul,  Marseilles,  Aries,  Nismes,  Narbonne,  Toulouse,  &c.  At 
Aries  the  municipality  actually  bore  the  name  of  commune 
(communitas),  Toulouse  gave  her  municipal  magistrates  the 
name  of  Capitouls,  after  the  Capitol  of  Rome,  and  in  the  greater 
part  of  the  other  towns  in  the  south  they  were  called  Consuls. 
After  the  great  invasion  of  barbarians  from  the  seventh  to  the 
end  of  the  eleventh  century,  the  existence  of  these  Roman 
municipalities  appears  but  rarely  and  confusedly  in  history; 
but  in  this  there  is  nothing  peculiar  to  the  towns  and  the  muni- 
cipal regimen,  for  confusion  and  obscurity  were  at  that  time 
universal,  and  the  nascent  feudal  system  was  plunged  therein 
as  well  as   the   dying   little   municipal  systems   were.     Many 


Chap.  XIX.]     THE  COMMUNES   AND   THIRD   ESTATE.       211 

Roman  municipalities  were  still  subsisting  without  influencing 
any  event  of  at  all  a  general  kind,  and  without  leaving  any 
trace  ;  and  as  the  feudal  system  grew  and  grew  they  still  went 
on  in  the  midst  of  universal  darkness  and  anarchy.  They  had 
penetrated  into  the  north  of  Gaul  in  fewer  numbers  and  with  a 
weaker  organization  than  in  the  south,  but  still  keeping  their 
footing  and  vaunting  themselves  on  their  Roman  origin  in  the 
face  of  their  barbaric  conquerors.  The  inhabitants  of  Rheims 
remembered  with  pride  that  their  municipal  magistracy  and  its 
jurisdiction  were  anterior  to  Clovis,  dating  as  they  did  from 
before  the  days  of  St.  Remigius,  the  apostle  of  the  Franks.  The 
burghers  of  Metz  boasted  of  having  enjoyed  civil  rights  before 
there  was  any  district  of  Lorraine  :  "  Lorraine,"  said  they,  "  is 
young,  and  Metz  is  old."  The  city  of  Bourges  was  one  of  the 
most  complete  examples  of  successive  transformations  and  de- 
nominations attained  by  a  Roman  municipality  from  the  sixth 
to  the  thirteenth  century  under  the  Merovingians,  the  Carlovin- 
gians,  and  the  earliest  Capetians.  At  the  time  of  the  invasion 
it  had  arenas,  an  amphitheatre,  and  all  that  characterized  a 
Roman  city.  In  the  seventh  century,  the  author  of  the  life  of 
St.  Estadiola,  born  at  Bourges,  says  that  "  she  was  the  child  of 
illustrious  parents  who,  as  worldly  dignity  is  accounted,  were 
notable  by  reason  of  senatorial  rank;  and  Gregory  of  Tours 
quotes  a  judgment  delivered  by  the  principals  (primores)  of  the 
city  of  Bourges.  Coins  of  the  time  of  Charles  the  Bald  are 
struck  with  the  name  of  the  city  of  Bourges  and  its  inhabit- 
ants (Bituriges).  In  1107,  under  Philip  I.,  the  members  of  the 
municipal  body  of  Bourges  are  named  pruoVJiommes.  In  two 
charters,  one  of  Louis  the  Young,  in  1145,  and  the  other  of 
Philip  Augustus,  in  1218,  the  old  senators  of  Bourges  have  the 
name  at  one  time  of  bons  hommes,  at  another  of  barons  of  the 
city.  Under  different  names,  in  accordance  with  changes  of 
language,  the  Roman  municipal  regimen  held  on  and  adapted 
itself  to  new  social  conditions. 

In  our  own  day  there  has  been  far  too  much  inclination  to 


212  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF  FRANCE.     [Chap.  XIX. 

dispute,  and  M.  Augustin  Thierry  has,  in  M.  Guizot's  opinion, 
made  far  too  little  of,  the  active  and  effective  part  played  by 
the  kingship  in  the  formation  and  protection  of  the  French 
communes.  Not  only  did  the  kings,  as  we  shall  presently  see, 
often  interpose  as  mediators  in  the  quarrels  of  the  communes 
with  their  laic  or  ecclesiastical  lords,  but  many  amongst  them 
assumed  in  their  own  domains  and  to  the  profit  of  the  communes 
an  intelligent  and  beneficial  initiative.  The  city  of  Orleans  was 
a  happy  example  of  this.  It  was  of  ancient  date,  and  had 
prospered  under  the  Roman  empire  ;  nevertheless  the  contin- 
uance of  the  Roman  municipal  regimen  does  not  appear  there 
clearly  as  we  have  just  seen  that  it  did  in  the  case  of  Bo  urges ; 
it  is  chiefly  from  the  middle  ages  and  their  kings  that  Orleans 
held  its  municipal  franchises  and  its  privileges ;  they  never 
raised  it  to  a  commune,  properly  so  called,  by  a  charter  sworn 
to  and  guaranteed  by  independent  institutions,  but  they  set 
honestly  to  work  to  prevent  local  oppression,  to  reform  abuses, 
and  make  justice  prevail  there.  From  1051  to  1281  there  are 
to  be  found  in  the  Recueil  des  ordo?mances  des  rois  seven  im- 
portant charters  relating  to  Orleans.  In  1051,  at  the  demand 
of  the  people  of  Orleans  and  its  bishop,  who  appears  in  the 
charter  as  the  head  of  the  people,  the  defender  of  the  city, 
Henry  I.  secures  to  the  inhabitants  of  Orleans  freedom  of 
labor  and  of  going  to  and  fro  during  the  vintages,  and  interdicts 
his  agents  from  exacting  anything  upon  the  entry  of  wines. 
From  1137  to  1178,  during  the  administration  of  Suger,  Louis 
the  Young  in  four  successive  ordinances  gives,  in  respect  of 
Orleans,  precise  guarantees  for  freedom  of  trade,  security  of 
person  and  property,  and  the  internal  peace  of  the  city  ;  and 
in  1183  Philip  Augustus  exempts  from  all  talliage,  that  is, 
from  all  personal  impost,  the  present  and  future  inhabitants 
of  Orleans,  and  grants  them  divers  privileges,  amongst  others 
that  of  not  going  to  law-courts  farther  from  their  homes  than 
Etampes.  In  1281  Philip  the  Bold  renews  and  confirms  the 
concessions  of  Philip  Augustus.     Orleans  was  not,  within  the 


Chap.  XIX.]     THE   COMMUNES  AND   THIRD  ESTATE.       213 

royal  domain,  the  only  city  where  the  kings  of  that  period  were 
careful  to  favor  the  progress  of  the  population,  of  wealth,  and 
of  security ;  several  other  cities,  and  even  less  considerable 
burghs,  obtained  similar  favor ;  and  in  1155  Louis  the  Young, 
probably  in  confirmation  of  an  act  of  his  father,  Louis  the  Fat, 
granted  to  the  little  town  of  Lorris,  in  Gatinais  (nowadays 
chief  place  of  a  canton  in  the  department  of  the  Loire t),  a 
charter,  full  of  detail,  which  regulated  its  interior  regimen  in 
financial,  commercial,  judicial,  and  military  matters,  and  secured 
to  all  its  inhabitants  good  conditions  in  respect  of  civil  life. 
This  charter  was  in  the  course  of  the  twelfth  century  regarded 
as  so  favorable  that  it  was  demanded  by  a  great  number  of 
towns  and  burghs  ;  the  king  was  asked  for  the  customs  of  Lorris 
(consuetudines  Lauracienses),  and  in  the  space  of  fifty  years 
they  were  granted  to  seven  towns,  some  of  them  a  considerable 
distance  from  (Meanness.  The  towns  which  obtained  them 
did  not  become  by  this  qualification  communes  properly  so 
called  in  the  special  and  historical  sense  of  the  word  ;  they 
had  no  jurisdiction  of  their  own,  no  independent  magistracy  ; 
they  had  not  their  own  government  in  their  hands  ;  the  king's 
officers,  provosts,  bailiffs,  or  others,  were  the  only  persons  who 
exercised  there  a  real  and  decisive  power.  But  the  king's 
promises  to  the  inhabitants,  the  rights  which  he  authorized  them 
to  claim  from  him,  and  the  rules  which  he  imposed  upon  his 
officers  in  their  government,  were  not  concessions  which  were 
of  no  value  or  which  remained  without  fruit.  As  we  follow 
in  the  course  of  our  history  the  towns  which,  without  having 
been  raised  to  communes  properly  so  called,  had  obtained 
advantages  of  that  kind,  we  see  them  developing  and  grow- 
ing in  population  and  wealth,  and  sticking  more  and  more 
closely  to  that  kingship  from  which  they  had  received  their 
privileges,  and  which,  for  all  its  imperfect  observance  and 
even  frequent  violation  of  promises,  was  nevertheless  accessi- 
ble to  complaint,  repressed  from  time  to  time  the  misbehavior 
of  its  officers,  renewed  at  need  and  even  extended  privileges, 


214  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.     [Chap.  XIX. 

and,  in  a  word,  promoted  in  its  administration  the  progress  of 
civilization  and  the  counsels  of  reason,  and  thus  attached  the 
burghers  to  itself  without  recognizing  on  their  side  those 
positive  rights  and  those  guarantees  of  administrative  inde- 
pendence which  are  in  a  perfect  and  solidly  constructed 
social  fabric  the  foundation  of  political  liberty. 

Nor  was  it  the  kings  alone  who  in  the  middle  ages  listened 
to  the  counsels  of  reason,  and  recognized  in  their  behavior 
towards  their  towns  the  rights  of  justice.  Many  bishops  had 
become  the  feudal  lords  of  the  episcopal  city ;  and  the  Chris- 
tian spirit  enlightened  and  animated  many  amongst  them  just 
as  the  monarchical  spirit  sometimes  enlightened  and  guided  the 
kings.  Troubles  had  arisen  in  the  town  of  Cambrai  between 
the  bishops  and  the  people.  "  There  was  amongst  the  members 
of  the  metropolitan  clergy,"  says  M.  Augustin  Thierry,  "  a 
certain  Baudri  de  Sarchainville,  a  native  of  Artois,  who  had 
the  title  of  chaplain  of  the  bishopric.  He  was  a  man  of  high 
character  and  of  wise  and  reflecting  mind.  He  did  not  share 
the  violent  aversion  felt  by  most  of  his  order  for  the  institution 
of  communes.  He  saw  in  this  institution  a  sort  of  necessity 
beneath  which  it  would  be  inevitable  sooner  or  later,  willy 
nilly,  to  bow,  and  he  thought  it  was  better  to  surrender  to  the 
wishes  of  the  citizens  than  to  shed  blood  in  order  to  postpone 
for  a  while  an  unavoidable  revolution.  In  1098  he  was  elected 
Bishop  of  Noyon.  He  found  this  town  in  the  same  state  in 
which  he  had  seen  that  of  Cambrai.  The  burghers  were  at 
daily  loggerheads  with  the  metropolitan  clergy,  and  the  regis- 
ters of  the  Church  contained  a  host  of  documents  entitled 
'Peace  made  between  us  and  the  burghers  of  Noyon.'  But 
no  reconciliation  was  lasting ;  the  truce  was  soon  broken, 
either  by  the  clergy  or  by  the  citizens,  who  were  the  more 
touchy  in  that  they  had  less  security  for  their  persons  and 
their  property.  The  new  bishop  thought  that  the  establishment 
of  a  commune  sworn  to  by  both  the  rival  parties  might  become 
a  sort  of  compact  of  alliance  between  them,  and  he  set  about 


5>V  -:■ 


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*§^$i-p'\\  1               -BIbB  ^^^^^^^ISIlli 

n||»fi[ijCi^m^^^^B  ra| 

H^^M^^B^sHfellili^^^^^^^^ii 

INSURRECTION   IN  FAVOR  OF  THE   COMMUNE   AT   CAMBRAI. - 

-  Page  214. 

Chap.  XIX.]     THE   COMMUNES   AND   THIRD   ESTATE.        215 

realizing  this  noble  idea  before  the  word  commune  had  served 
at  Noyon  as  the  rallying  cry  of  popular  insurrection.  Of  his 
own  mere  motion  he  convoked  in  assembly  all  the  inhabitants 
of  the  town,  clergy,  knights,  traders,  and  craftsmen.  He  pre- 
sented them  with  a  charter  which  constituted  the  body  of 
burghers  an  association  forever  under  magistrates  called  jury- 
men,  like  those  of  Cambrai.  '  Whosoever,'  said  the  charter, 
4  shall  desire  to  enter  this  commune  shall  not  be  able  to  be 
received  as  a  member  of  it  by  a  single  individual,  but  only  in 
the  presence  of  the  jurymen.  The  sum  of  money  he  shall  then 
give  shall  be  employed  for  the  benefit  of  the  town,  and  not  for 
the  private  advantage  of  any  one  whatsoever.  If  the  commune 
be  outraged,  all  those  who  have  sworn  to  it  shall  be  bound  to 
march  to  its  defence,  and  none  shall  be  empowered  to  remain 
at  home  unless  he  be  infirm  or  sick,  or  so  poor  that  he  must 
needs  be  himself  the  watcher  of  his  own  wife  and  children 
lying  sick.  If  any  one  have  wounded  or  slain  any  one  on  the 
territory  of  the  commune,  the  jurymen  shall  take  vengeance 
therefor.'  " 

The  other  articles  guarantee  to  the  members  of  the  commune 
of  Noyon  the  complete  ownership  of  their  property,  and  the 
right  of  not  being  handed  over  to  justice  save  before  their  own 
municipal  magistrates.  The  bishop  first  swore  to  this  charter, 
and  the  inhabitants  of  every  condition  took  the  same  oath  after 
him.  In  virtue  of  his  pontifical  authority  he  pronounced  the 
anathema,  and  all  the  curses  of  the  Old  and  New  Testament, 
against  whoever  should  in  time  to  come  dare  to  dissolve  the  com- 
mune or  infringe  its  regulations.  Furthermore,  in  order  to  give 
this  new  pact  a  stronger  warranty,  Baudri  requested  the  King 
of  France,  Louis  the  Fat,  to  corroborate  it,  as  they  used  to  say 
at  the  time,  by  his  approbation  and  by  the  great  seal  of  the 
crown.  The  king  consented  to  this  request  of  the  bishop, 
and  that  was  all  the  part  taken  by  Louis  the  Fat  in  the  es- 
tablishment of  the  commune  of  Noyon.  The  king's  charter  is 
not  preserved,  but,  under  the  date  of  1108,  there  is  extant  one 


216  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.     [Chap.  XIX. 

of  the  bishop's  own,  which  may  serve  to  substantiate  the  account 
given:  — 

"  Baudri,  by  the  grace  of  God  Bishop  of  Noyon,  to  all*  those 
who  do  preserve  and  go  on  in  the  faith : 

"  Most  dear  brethren,  we  learn  by  the  example  and  words 
of  the  holy  Fathers,  that  all  good  things  ought  to  be  committed 
to  writing,  for  fear  lest  hereafter  they  come  to  be  forgotten. 
Know,  then,  all  Christians  present  and  to  come,  that  I  have 
formed  at  Noyon  a  commune,  constituted  by  the  counsel  and  in 
an  assembly  of  clergy,  knights,  and  burghers  ;  that  I  have  con- 
firmed it  by  oath,  by  pontifical  authority,  and  by  the  bond  of 
anathema  ;  and  that  I  have  prevailed  upon  our  lord  King  Louis 
to  grant  this  commune  and  corroborate  it  with  the  king's  seal. 
This  establishment  formed  by  me,  sworn  to  by  a  great  number 
of  persons,  and  granted  by  the  king,  let  none  be  so  bold  as  to 
destroy  or  alter  ;  I  give  warning  thereof,  on  behalf  of  God  and 
myself,  and  I  forbid  it  in  the  name  of  pontifical  authority. 
Whosoever  shall  transgress  and  violate  the  present  law,  be 
subjected  to  excommunication  ;  and  whosoever,  on  the  contrary, 
shall  faithfully  keep  it,  be  preserved  forever  amongst  those  who 
dwell  in  the  house  of  the  Lord." 

This  good  example  was  not  without  fruit.  The  communal 
regimen  was  established  in  several  towns,  notably  at  St. 
Quentin  and  at  Soissons,  without  trouble  or  violence,  and 
Avith  one  accord  amongst  the  laic  and  ecclesiastical  lords  and 
the  inhabitants. 

We  arrive  now  at  the  third  and  chief  source  of  the  com- 
munes, at  the  case  of  those  which  met  feudal  oppression  with 
energetic  resistance,  and  which,  after  all  the  sufferings,  vicissi- 
tudes, and  outrages,  on  both  sides,  of  a  prolonged  struggle, 
ended  by  winning  a  veritable  administrative,  and,  to  a  certain 
extent,  political  independence.  The  number  of  communes 
thus  formed  from  the  eleventh  to  the  thirteenth  century  was 
great,  and  we  have  a  detailed  history  of  the  fortunes  of  several 
amongst   them,   Cambrai,    Beauvais,    Laon,    Amiens,    Rheims, 


Chap.  XIX.]     THE   COMMUNES   AND   THIRD   ESTATE.        217 

.Etampes,  Vezelay,  &c.  To  give  a  correct  and  vivid  picture  of 
them  we  will  choose  the  commune  of  Laon,  which  was  one  of 
those  whose  fortunes  were  most  checkered  as  well  as  most  tragic, 
and  which  after  more  than  two  centuries  of  a  very  tempestuous 
existence  was  sentenced  to  complete  abolition,  first  by  Philip 
the  Handsome,  then  by  Philip  the  Long  and  Charles  the  Hand- 
some, and,  finally,  by  Philip  of  Valois,  "  for  certain  misdeeds 
and  excesses  notorious,  enormous,  and  detestable,  and  on  full 
deliberation  of  our  council."  The  early  portion  of  the  history 
connected  with  the  commune  of  Laon  has  been  narrated  for 
us  by  Guibert,  an  abbot  of  Nogent-sous-Coucy,  in  the  diocese 
of  Laon,  a  contemporary  writer,  sprightly  and  bold.  "In  all 
that  I  have  written  and  am  still  writing,"  says  he,  "  I  dismiss 
all  men  from  my  mind,  caring  not  a  whit  about  pleasing  any- 
body. I  have  taken  my  side  in  the  opinions  of  the  world, 
and  with  calmness  and  indifference  on  my  own  account  I 
expect  to  be  exposed  to  all  sorts  of  language,  to  be  as  it  were 
beaten  with  rods.  I  proceed  with  my  task,  being  fully  pur- 
posed to  bear  with  equanimity  the  judgments  of  all  who  come 
snarling  after  me." 

Laon  was  at  the  end  of  the  eleventh  century  one  of  the  most 
important  towns  in  the  kingdom  of  France.  It  was  full  of 
rich  and  industrious  inhabitants  ;  the  neighboring  people  came 
thither  for  provisions  or  diversion  ;  and  such  concourse  led  to 
the  greatest  disturbances.  "  The  nobles  and  their  servitors," 
says  M.  Augustin  Thierry,  "  sword  in  hand,  committed  robbery 
upon  the  burghers ;  the  streets  of  the  town  were  not  safe  by 
night  or  even  by  day,  and  none  could  go  out  without  running  a 
risk  of  being  stopped  and  robbed  or  killed.  The  burghers  in 
their  turn  committed  violence  upon  the  peasants,  who  came  to 
buy  or  sell  at  the  market  of  the  town."  "  Let  me  give  as 
example,"  says  Guibert  of  Nogent,  "  a  single  fact,  which,  had  it 
taken  place  amongst  the  Barbarians  or  the  Scythians,  would 
assuredly  have  been  considered  the  height  of  wickedness,  in 
the  judgment  even  of  those  who  recognize  no  law.     On  Satur- 

vol.  h.  28 


218  POPULAR   HISTORY  OF   FRANCE.       [Chap.  XIX. 

day  the  inhabitants  of  the  country  places  used  to  leave  their 
fields,  and  come  from  all  sides  to  Laon  to  get  provisions  at  the 
market.  The  townsfolk  used  then  to  go  round  the  place,  carry- 
ing in  baskets,  or  bowls,  or  otherwise,  samples  of  vegetables,  or 
grain,  or  any  other  article,  as  if  they  wished  to  sell.  They 
would  offer  them  to  the  first  peasant  who  was  in  search  of  such 
things  to  buy ;  he  would  promise  to  pay  the  price  agreed  upon ; 
and  then  the  seller  would  say  to  the  buyer,  4  Come  with  me  to 
my  house  to  see  and  examine  the  whole  of  the  articles  I  am  sell- 
ing you.'  The  other  would  go ;  and  then,  when  they  came  to 
the  bin  containing  the  goods,  the  honest  seller  would  take  off 
and  hold  up  the  lid,  saying  to  the  buyer,  4  Step  hither,  and  put 
your  head  or  arms  into  the  bin,  to  make  quite  sure  that  it  is  all 
exactly  the  same  goods  as  I  showed  you  outside.'  And  then 
when  the  other,  jumping  on  to  the  edge  of  the  bin,  remained 
leaning  on  his  belly,  with  his  head  and  shoulders  hanging  down, 
the  worthy  seller,  who  kept  in  the  rear,  would  hoist  up  the 
thoughtless  rustic  by  the  feet,  push  him  suddenly  into  the  bin, 
and,  clapping  on  the  lid  as  he  fell,  keep  him  shut  up  in  this  safe 
prison  until  he  had  bought  himself  out." 

In  1106  the  bishopric  of  Laon  had  been  two  years  vacant.  It 
was  sought  after  and  obtained  for  a  sum  of  money,  say  contem- 
poraries, by  Gaudri,  a  Norman  by  birth,  referendary  of  Henry  I., 
King  of  England,  and  one  of  those  Churchmen  who,  according 
to  M.  Augustin  Thierry's  expression,  "  had  gone  in  the  train  of 
William  the  Bastard  to  seek  their  fortunes  amongst  the  English 
by  seizing  the  property  of  the  vanquished."  It  appears  that 
thenceforth  the  life  of  Gaudri  had  been  scarcely  edifying;  he 
had,  it  is  said,  the  tastes  and  habits  of  a  soldier ;  he  was  hasty 
and  arrogant,  and  he  liked  beyond  everything  to  talk  of  fighting 
and  hunting,  of  arms,  of  horses,  and  of  hounds.  When  he  was 
repairing  with  a  numerous  following  to  Rome,  to  ask  for  con- 
firmation of  his  election,  he  met  at  Langres  Pope  Pascal  II., 
come  to  France  to  keep  the  festival  of  Christmas  at  the  abbey 
of  Cluny.     The  pope  had  no  doubt  heard  something  about  the 


Chap.  XIX.]     THE   COMMUNES   AND   THIRD   ESTATE.        219 

indifferent  reputation  of  the  new  bishop,  for,  the  very  day  after 
his  arrival  at  Langres,  he  held  a  conference  with  the  ecclesiastics 
who  had  accompanied  Gaudri,  and  plied  them  with  questions 
concerning  him.  "  He  asked  us  first,"  says  Guibert  of  Nogent, 
who  was  in  the  train,  "  why  we  had  chosen  a  man  who  was  un- 
known to  us.  As  none  of  the  priests,  some  of  whom  did  not 
know  even  the  first  rudiments  of  the  Latin  language,  made  any 
answer  to  this  question,  he  turned  to  the  abbots.  I  was  seated 
between  my  two  colleagues.  As  they  likewise  kept  silence,  I 
began  to  be  urged,  right  and  left,  to  speak.  I  was  one  of  those 
whom  this  election  had  displeased ;  but  with  culpable  timidity  I 
had  yielded  to  the  authority  of  my  superiors  in  dignity.  With 
the  bashfulness  of  youth  I  could  only  with  great  difficulty  and 
much  blushing  prevail  upon  myself  to  open  my  mouth.  The 
discussion  was  carried  on,  not  in  our  mother  tongue,  but  in  the 
language  of  scholars.  I  therefore,  though  with  great  confusion 
of  mind  and  face,  betook  myself  to  speaking  in  a  manner  to 
tickle  the  palate  of  him  who  was  questioning  us,  wrapping  up  in 
artfully  arranged  form  of  speech  expressions  which  were  soft- 
ened down,  but  were  not  entirely  removed  from  the  truth.  I 
said  that  we  did  not  know,  it  was  true,  to  the  extent  of  having 
been  familiar  by  sight  and  intercourse  with  him,  the  man  of 
whom  we  had  made  choice,  but  that  we  had  received  favorable 
reports  of  his  integrity.  The  pope  strove  to  confound  my  argu- 
ments by  this  quotation  from  the  Gospel :  '  He  that  hath  seen 
giveth  testimony.'  But  as  he  did  not  explicitly  raise  the  objec- 
tion that  Gaudri  had  been  elected  by  desire  of  the  court,  all 
subtle  subterfuge  on  any  such  point  became  useless ;  so  I  gave  it 
up,  and  confessed  that  I  could  say  nothing  in  opposition  to  the 
pontiff's  words;  which  pleased  him  very  much,  for  he  had  less 
scholarship  than  would  have  become  his  high  office.  Clearly 
perceiving,  however,  that  all  the  phrases  I  had  piled  up  in  de- 
fence of  our  election  had  but  little  weight,  I  launched  out  after- 
wards upon  the  urgent  straits  wherein  our  Church  was  placed, 
and  on  this  subject  I  gave  myself  the  more  rein  in  proportion  as 


220  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.     [Chap.  XIX. 

the  person  elected  was  unfitted  for  the  functions  of  the  epis- 
copate." 

Gaudri  was  indeed  very  scantily  fitted  for  the  office  of  bishop, 
as  the  town  of  Laon  was  not  slow  to  perceive.  Scarcely  had  he 
been  installed  when  he  committed  strange  outrages.  He  had  a 
man's  eyes  put  out  on  suspicion  of  connivance  with  his  enemies ; 
and  he  tolerated  the  murder  of  another  in  the  metropolitan 
church.  In  imitation  of  rich  crusaders  on  their  return  from  the 
East,  he  kept  a  black  slave,  whom  he  employed  upon  his  deeds 
of  vengeance.  The  burghers  began  to  be  disquieted,  and  to  wax 
wroth.  During  a  trip  the  bishop  made  to  England,  they  offered 
a  great  deal  of  money  to  the  clergy  and  knights  who  ruled  in  his 
absence,  if  they  would  consent  to  recognize  by  a  genuine  Act 
the  right  of  the  commonalty  of  the  inhabitants  to  be  governed 
by  authorities  of  their  own  choice.  "  The  clergy  and  knights," 
says  a  contemporary  chronicler,  "  came  to  an  agreement  with 
the  common  folk  in  hopes  of  enriching  themselves  in  a  speedy 
and  easy  fashion."  A  commune  was  therefore  set  up  and  pro- 
claimed at  Laon,  on  the  model  of  that  of  Noyon,  and  invested 
with  effective  powers.  The  bishop,  on  his  return,  was  very 
wroth,  and  for  some  days  abstained  from  re-entering  the  town. 
But  the  burghers  acted  with  him,  as  they  had  with  his  clergy 
and  the  knights :  they  offered  him  so  large  a  sum  of  money  that 
"  it  was  enough,"  says  Guibert  of  Nogent,  "  to  appease  the  tem- 
pest of  his  words."  He  accepted  the  commune,  and  swore  to 
respect  it.  The  burghers  wished  to  have  a  higher  warranty  ;  so 
they  sent  to  Paris,  to  King  Louis  the  Fat,  a  deputation  laden 
with  rich  presents.  "  The  king,"  says  the  chronicler,  "  won 
over  by  this  plebeian  bounty,  confirmed  the  commune  by  his 
own  oath,"  and  the  deputation  took  back  to  Laon  their  charter 
sealed  with  the  great  seal  of  the  crown,  and  augmented  by  two 
articles  to  the  following  purport :  "  The  folks  of  Laon  shall  not 
be  liable  to  be  forced  to  law  away  from  their  town ;  if  the  king 
have  a  suit  against  any  one  amongst  them,  justice  shall  be  done 
him  in  the  episcopal  court.     For  these  advantages,  and  others 


Cha,p.  XIX.]     THE   COMMUNES  AND   THIRD   ESTATE.       221 

further  granted  to  the  aforesaid  inhabitants  by  the  king's  munif- 
iaence,  the  folks  of  the  commune  have  covenanted  to  give  the 
king,  besides  the  old  plenary  court  dues,  and  man-and-horse  dues 
[dues  paid  for  exemption  from  active  service  in  case  of  war], 
three  lodgings  a  year,  if  he  come  to  the  town,  and,  if  he  do  not 
come,  they  will  pay  him  instead  twenty  livres  for  each  lodging." 
For  three  years  the  town  of  Laon  was  satisfied  and  tranquil ; 
the  burghers  were  happy  in  the  security  they  enjoyed,  and 
proud  of  the  liberty  they  had  won.  But  in  1112  the  knights, 
the  clergy  of  the  metropolitan  church,  and  the  bishop  himself 
had  spent  the  money  they  had  received,  and  keenly  regretted 
the  power  they  had  lost ;  and  they  meditated  reducing  to  the 
old  condition  the  serfs  emancipated  from  the  yoke.  The  bishop 
invited  King  Louis  the  Fat  to  come  to  Laon  for  the  keeping  of 
Holy  Week,  calculating  upon  his  presence  for  the  intimidation 
of  the  burghers.  "  But  the  burghers,  who  were  in  fear  of  ruin," 
says  Guibert  of  Nogent,  "  promised  the  king  and  those  about 
him  four  hundred  livres,  or  more,  I  am  not  quite  sure  which ; 
whilst  the  bishop  and  the  grandees,  on  their  side,  urged  the 
monarch  to  come  to  an  understanding  with  them,  and  engaged 
to  pay  him  seven  hundred  livres.  King  Louis  was  so  striking  in 
person  that  he  seemed  made  expressly  for  the  majesty  of  the 
throne ;  he  was  courageous  in  war,  a  foe  to  all  slowness  in  busi- 
ness, and  stout-hearted  in  adversity ;  sound,  however,  as  he  was 
on  every  other  point,  he  was  hardly  praiseworthy  in  this  one 
respect,  that  he  opened  too  readily  both  heart  and  ear  to  vile 
fellows  corrupted  by  avarice.  This  vice  was  a  fruitful  source  of 
hurt,  as  well  as  blame,  to  himself,  to  say  nothing  of  unhappiness 
to  many.  The  cupidity  of  this  prince  always  caused  him  to 
incline  towards  those  who  promised  him  most.  All  his  own 
oaths,  and  those  of  the  bishops  and  the  grandees,  were  conse- 
quently violated."  The  charter  sealed  with  the  king's  seal  was 
annulled ;  and  on  the  part  of  the  king  and  the  bishop,  an  order 
was  issued  to  all  the  magistrates  of  the  commune  to  cease  from 
their  functions,  to  give  up  the  seal  and  banner  of  the  town,  and 


999 


POPULAR   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.     [Chap.  XIX. 


to  no  longer  ring  the  belfry  chimes  which  rang  out  the  opening 
and  closing  of  their  audiences.  But  at  this  proclamation,  so 
violent  was  the  uproar  in  the  town,  that  the  king,  who  had 
hitherto  lodged  in  a  private  hotel,  thought  it  prudent  to  leave, 
and  go  to  pass  the  night  in  the  episcopal  palace,  which  was  sur- 
rounded by  strong  walls.  Not  content  with  this  precaution,  and 
probably  a  little  ashamed  of  what  he  had  done,  he  left  Laon  tho 
next  morning  at  daybreak,  with  all  his  train,  without  waiting 
for  the  festival  of  Easter,  for  the  celebration  of  which  he  had 
undertaken  his  journey. 

All  the  day  after  his  departure  the  shops  of  the  tradespeople 
and  the  houses  of  the  innkeepers  were  kept  closed ;  no  sort  of 
article  was  offered  for  sale ;  everybody  remained  shut  up  at 
home.  But  when  there  is  wrath  at  the  bottom  of  men's  souls, 
the  silence  and  stupor  of  the  first  paroxysm  are  of  short  dura- 
tion. Next  day  a  rumor  spread  that  the  bishop  and  the  gran- 
dees were  busy  "  in  calculating  the  fortunes  of  all  the  citizens, 
in  order  to  demand  that,  to  supply  the  sum  promised  to  the 
king,  each  should  pay  on  account  of  the  destruction  of  the  com- 
mune as  much  as  each  had  given  for  its  establishment."  In  a  fit 
of  violent  indignation  the  burghers  assembled ;  and  forty  of 
them  bound  themselves  by  oath,  for  life  or  death,  to  kill  the 
bishop  and  all  those  grandees  who  had  labored  for  the  ruin  of 
the  commune.  The  archdeacon,  Anselm,  a  good  sort  of  man, 
of  obscure  birth,  who  heartily  disapproved  of  the  bishop's  per- 
jury, went  nevertheless  and  warned  him,  quite  privately,  and 
without  betraying  any  one,  of  the  danger  that  threatened  him, 
urging  him  not  to  leave  his  house,  and  particularly  not  to  ac- 
company the  procession  on  Easter-day.  "  Pooh ! "  answered 
the  bishop,  "  I  die  by  the  hands  of  such  fellows  !  "  Next  day, 
nevertheless,  he  did  not  appear  at  matins,  and  did  not  set  foot 
within  the  church ;  but  when  the  hour  for  the  procession  came, 
fearing  to  be  accused  of  cowardice,  he  issued  forth  at  the  head 
of  his  clergy,  closely  followed  by  his  domestics  and  some 
knights  with  arms  and  armor  under  their  clothes.     As  the  com- 


BURGHERS   OF   LAONE   DISCUSSING   THEIR   CHARTER.  —  Page  220. 


CATHEDRAL   AND   TOWN   OF  L AON. —Page  223. 


- 


Chap.  XIX.J     THE   COMMUNES   AND   THIRD   ESTATE.        223 

pany  filed  past,  one  of  the  forty  conspirators,  thinking  the  mo- 
ment favorable  for  striking  the  blow,  rushed  out  suddenly  from 
under  an  arch,  with  a  shout  of  "  Commune!  commune!"  A  low 
murmur  ran  through  the  throng ;  but  not  a  soul  joined  in  the 
shout  or  the  movement,  and  the  ceremony  came  to  an  end  with- 
out any  explosion.  The  day  after,  another  solemn  procession 
was  to  take  place  to  the  church  of  St.  Vincent.  Somewhat  re- 
assured, but  still  somewhat  disquieted,  the  bishop  fetched  from 
the  domains  of  the  bishopric  a  body  of  peasants,  some  of  whom 
he  charged  to  protect  the  church,  others  his  own  palace,  and 
once  more  accompanied  the  procession  without  the  conspirators 
daring  to  attack  him.  This  time  he  was  completely  reassured, 
and  dismissed  the  peasants  he  had  sent  for.  "  On  the  fourth 
day  after  Easter,"  says  Guibert  of  Nogent,  "  my  corn  having 
been  pillaged  in  consequence  of  the  disorder  that  reigned  in  the 
town,  I  repaired  to  the  bishop's,  and  prayed  him  to  put  a  stop 
to  this  state  of  violence.  'What  do  you  suppose,'  said  he  to 
me,  4  those  fellows  can  do  with  all  their  outbreaks  ?  Why,  if 
my  blackamoor  John  were  to  pull  the  nose  of  the  most  formi- 
dable amongst  them,  the  poor  devil  durst  not  even  grumble. 
Have  I  not  forced  them  to  give  up  what  they  called  their  com- 
mune, for  the  whole  duration  of  my  life  ?  '  I  held  my  tongue," 
adds  Guibert ;  "  many  folks  besides  me  warned  him  of  his  dan- 
ger ;  but  he  would  not  deign  to  believe  anybody." 

•  Three  days  later  all  seemed  quiet ;  and  the  bishop  was  busy 
with  his  archdeacon  in  discussing  the  sums  to  be  exacted  from 
the  burghers.  All  at  once  a  tumult  arose  in  the  town ;  and  a 
crowd  of  people  thronged  the  streets,  shouting  "  Commune ! 
commune  !  "  Bands  of  burghers  armed  with  swords,  axes,  bows, 
hatchets,  clubs,  and  lances,  rushed  into  the  episcopal  palace. 
At  the  news  of  this,  the  knights  who  had  promised  the  bishop 
to  go  to  his  assistance  if  he  needed  it  came  up  one  after  another 
to  his  protection ;  and  three  of  them,  in  succession,  were  hotly 
attacked  by  the  burgher  bands,  and  fell  after  a  short  resistance. 
The  episcopal  palace  was  set  on  fire.     The  bishop,  not  being  in 


224  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.     [Chap.  XIX. 

a  condition  to  repulse  the  assaults  of  the  populace,  assumed  the 
dress  of  one  of  his  own  domestics,  fled  to  the  cellar  of  the 
church,  shut  himself  in,  and  ensconced  himself  in  a  cask,  the 
bung-hole  of  which  was  stopped  up  by  a  faithful  servitor.  The 
crowd  wandered  about  everywhere  in  search  of  him  on  whom 
they  wished  to  wreak  their  vengeance.  A  bandit  named  Teut- 
gaud,  notorious  in  those  times  for  his  robberies,  assaults,  and 
murders  of  travellers,  had  thrown  himself  headlong  into  the 
cause  of  the  commune.  The  bishop,  who  knew  him,  had  by 
way  of  pleasantry  and  on  account  of  his  evil  mien  given  him 
the  nickname  of  Isengrin.  This  was  the  name  which  was  given 
in  the  fables  of  the  day  to  the  wolf,  and  which  corresponded  to 
that  of  Master  Reynard,  Teutgaud  and  his  men  penetrated 
into  the  cellar  of  the  church ;  they  went  along  tapping  upon  all 
the  casks  ;  and  on  what  suspicion  there  is  no  knowing,  but 
Teutgaud  halted  in  front  of  that  in  which  the  bishop  was  hud- 
dled up,  and  had  it  opened,  crying,  "  Is  there  any  one  here  ?  " 
uOnly  a  poor  prisoner,"  answered  the  bishop,  trembling.  "Ha! 
ha !  "  said  the  playful  bandit,  who  recognized  the  voice,  "so  it  is 
you,  Master  Isengrin,  who  are  hiding  here  !  "  And  he  took  him 
by  the  hair,  and  dragged  him  out  of  his  cask.  The  bishop  im- 
plored the  conspirators  to  spare  his  life,  offering  to  swear  on  the 
Gospels  to  abdicate  the  bishopric,  promising  them  all  the  money 
he  possessed,  and  saying  that  if  they  pleased  he  would  leave  the 
country.  The  reply  was  insults  and  blows.  He  was  immedi- 
ately despatched;  and  Teutgaud,  seeing  the  episcopal  ring 
glittering  on  his  finger,  cut  off  the  finger  to  get  possession  of 
the  ring.  The  body,  stripped  of  all  covering,  was  thrust  into  a 
corner,  where  passers-by  threw  stones  or  mud  at  it,  accompany- 
ing their  insults  with  ribaldry  and  cursesj 

Murder  and  arson  are  contagious.  All  the  day  of  the  insur- 
rection and  all  the  following  night  armed  bands  wandered  about 
the  streets  of  Laon  searching  everywhere  for  relatives,  friends, 
or  servitors  of  the  bishop,  for  all  whom  the  angry  populace 
knew  or  supposed  to  be  such,  and  wreaking  on  their  persons  or 


BISHOP  GAUDRI  DRAGGED   FROM  THE  CASK.  —  Page  224. 


f 


Chap.  XIX.]     THE   COMMUNES   AND   THIRD   ESTATE.        225 

their  houses  a  ghastly  or  a  brutal  vengeance.  In  a  fit  of  terror 
many  poor  innocents  fled  before  the  blind  wrath  of  the  popu- 
lace ;  some  were  caught  and  cut  down  pell-mell  amongst  the 
guilty ;  others  escaped  through  the  vineyards  planted  between 
two  hills  in  the  outskirts  of  the  town.  "  The  progress  of  the 
fire,  kindled  on  two  sides  at  once,  was  so  rapid,"  says  Guibert 
of  Nogent,  "  and  the  winds  drove  the  flames  so  furiously  in  the 
direction  of  the  convent  of  St.  Vincent,  that  the  monks  were 
afraid  of  seeing  all  they  possessed  become  the  fire's  prey,  and 
all  the  persons  who  had  taken  refuge  in  this  monastery  trem- 
bled as  if  they  had  seen  swords  hanging  over  their  heads." 
Some  insurgents  stopped  a  young  man  who  had  been  body- 
servant  to  the  bishop,  and  asked  him  whether  the  bishop  had 
been,  killed  or  not ;  they  knew  nothing  about  it,  nor  did  he 
know  any  more  ;  he  helped  them  to  look  for  the  corpse,  and 
when  they  came  upon  it,  it  had  been  so  mutilated  that  not  a 
feature  was  recognizable.  "  I  remember,"  said  the  young  man, 
"  that  when  the  prelate  was  alive  he  liked  to  talk  of  deeds  of 
war,  for  which  to  his  hurt  he  always  showed  too  much  bent ; 
and  he  often  used  to  say  that  one  day  in  a  sham-fight,  just  as 
he  was,  all  in  the  way  of  sport,  attacking  a  certain  knight,  the 
latter  hit  him  with  his  lance,  and  wounded  him  under  the  neck, 
near  the  tracheal  artery."  The  body  of  Gaudri  was  eventually 
recognized  by  this  mark,  and  "  Archdeacon  Anselm  went  the 
next  day,"  says  Guibert  of  Nogent,  "  to  beg  of  the  insurgents 
permission  at  least  to  bury  it,  if  only  because  it  had  once  borne 
the  title  and  worn  the  insignia  of  bishop.  They  consented,  but 
reluctantly.  It  were  impossible  to  tell  how  many  threats  and 
insults  were  launched  against  those  who  undertook  the  obse- 
quies, and  what  outrageous  language  was  vented  against  the 
dead  himself.  His  corpse  was  thrown  into  a  half-dug  hole,  and 
at  church  there  was  none  of  the  prayers  or  ceremonies  pre- 
scribed for  the  burial  of,  I  will  not  say  a  bishop,  but  the  worst 
of  Christians."  A  few  days  afterwards,  Raoul,  Archbishop  of 
Rheims,  came  to  Laon  to  purify  the  church.  "  The  wise  and 
VOL.  ii.  29 


226  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF  FRANCE.     [Chap.  XIX. 

venerable  archbishop,"  says  Guibert,  "  after  having,  on  his  arri- 
val, seen  to  more  decently  disposing  the  remains  of  some  of  the 
dead  and  celebrated  divine  service  in  memory  of  all,  amidst  the 
tears  and  utter  grief  of  their  relatives  and  connections,  suspend- 
ed the  holy  sacrifice  of  the  mass,  in  order  to  deliver  a  dis- 
course, touching  those  execrable  institutions  of  communes, 
whereby  we  see  serfs,  contrary  to  all  right  and  justice,  with- 
drawing themselves  by  force  from  the  lawful  authority  of  their 
masters." 

Here  is  a  striking  instance  of  the  changeableness  of  men's 
feelings  and  judgments ;  and  it  causes  a  shock  even  when  it  is 
natural  and  almost  allowable.  Guibert  of  Nogent,  the  contem- 
porary historian,  who  was  but  lately  loud  in  his  blame  of  the 
bishop  of  Laon's  character  and  conduct,  now  takes  sides  with 
the  reaction  aroused  by  popular  excesses  and  vindictiveness, 
and  is  indignant  with  "  those  execrable  institutions  of  com- 
munes," the  source  of  so  many  disturbances  and  crimes.  The 
burghers  of  Laon  themselves,  "  having  reflected  upon  the  num- 
ber and  enormity  of  the  crimes  they  had  committed,  shrank  up 
with  fear,"  says  Guibert,  "  and  dreaded  the  judgment  of  the 
king."  To  protect  themselves  against  the  consequences  of  his 
resentment,  they  added  a  fresh  wound  to  the  old  by  summoning 
to  their  aid  Thomas  de  Marie,  son  of  Lord  Enguerrand  de 
Coucy.  "  This  Thomas,  from  his  earliest  youth,  enriched  him- 
self by  plundering  the  poor  and  the  pilgrim,  contracted  several 
incestuous  marriages,  and  exhibited  a  ferocity  so  unheard  of  in 
our  age,  that  certain  people,  even  amongst  those  who  have  a 
reputation  for  cruelty,  appear  less  lavish  of  the  blood  of  com- 
mon sheep  than  Thomas  was  of  human  blood.  Such  was  the 
man  whom  the  burghers  of  Laon  implored  to  come  and  put 
himself  at  their  head,  and  whom  they  welcomed  with  joy  when 
he  entered  their  town.  As  for  him,  when  he  had  heard  their 
request,  he  consulted  his  own  people  to  know  what  he  ought  to 
do ;  and  they  all  replied  that  his  forces  were  not  sufficiently 
numerous  to  defend  such  a  city  against  the  king.     Thomas  then 


Chap.  XIX.]     THE  COMMUNES   AND   THIRD   ESTATE.         227 

induced  the  burghers  to  go  out  and  hold  a  meeting  in  a  field 
where  he  would  make  known  to  them  his  plan.  When  they 
were  about  a  mile  from  the  town,  he  said  to  them,  'Laon  is 
the  head  of  the  kingdom  ;  it  is  impossible  for  me  to  keep  the 
king  from  making  himself  master  of  it.  If  you  dread  his  arms, 
follow  me  to  my  own  land,  and  you  will  find  in  me  a  protector 
and  a  friend.'  These  words  threw  them  into  an  excess  of  con- 
sternation ;  soon,  however,  the  popular  party,  troubled  at  the 
recollection  of  the  crime  they  had  committed,  and  fancying 
they  already  saw  the  king  threatening  their  lives,  fled  away  to 
the  number  of  a  great  many  in  the  wake  of  Thomas.  Teutgaud 
himself,  that  murderer  of  Bishop  Gaudri,  hastened  to  put  him- 
self under  the  wing  of  the  Lord  of  Marie.  'Before  long  the 
rumor  spread  abroad  amongst  the  population  of  the  country- 
places  near  Laon  that  that  town  was  quite  empty  of  inhabitants ; 
and  all  the  peasants  rushed  thither  and  took  possession  of  the 
houses  they  found  without  defenders.  Who  could  tell,  or  be 
believed  if  he  were  to  attempt  to  tell,  how  much  money,  rai- 
ment, and  provision  of  all  kinds  was  discovered  in  this  city  ? 
Before  long  there  arose  between  the  first  and  last  comers  dis- 
putes about  the  partition  of  their  plunder  ;  all  that  the  small 
folks  had  taken  soon  passed  into  the  hands  of  the  powerful ;  if 
two  men  met  a  third  quite  alone  they  stripped  him ;  the  state 
of  the  town  was  truly  pitiable.  The  burghers  who  had  quitted 
it  with  Thomas  de  Marie  had  beforehand  destroyed  and  burned 
the  houses  of  the  clergy  and  grandees  whom  they  hated ;  and 
now  the  grandees,  escaped  from  the  massacre,  carried  off  in  their 
turn  from  the  houses  of  the  fugitives  all  means  of  subsistence 
and  all  movables  to  the  very  hinges  and  bolts.' \ 

The  rumor  of  so  many  disasters,  crimes,  and  reactions  suc- 
ceeding one  another  spread  rapidly  throughout  all  districts. 
Thomas  de  Marie  was  put  under  the  ban  of  the  kingdom,  and 
visited  with  excommunication  "by  a  general  assembly  of  the 
Church  of  the  Gauls,"  says  Guibert  of  Nogent,  "  assembled  at 
Beauvais ;  "  and  this  sentence  was  read  every  Sunday  after  mass 


228  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.     [Chap.  XIX. 

in  all  the  metropolitan  and  parochial  churches.  Public  feeling 
against  Thomas  de  Marie  became  so  strong  that  Enguerrand  de 
Boves,  Lord  of  Coucy,  who  passed,  says  Suger,  for  his  father, 
joined  those  who  declared  war  against  him  in  the  name  of 
Church  and  King.  Louis  the  Fat  took  the  field  in  person 
against  him.  "  Men-at-arms,  and  in  very  small  numbers,  too," 
says  Guibert  of  Nogent,  "  were  with  difficulty  induced  to  sec- 
ond the  king,  and  did  not  do  so  heartily  ;  but  the  light-armed 
infantry  made  up  a  considerable  force,  and  the  Archbishop  of 
Rheims  and  the  bishops  had  summoned  all  the  people  to  this 
expedition,  whilst  offering  to  all  absolution  from  their  sins. 
Thomas  de  Marie,  though  at  that  time  helpless  and  stretched 
upon  his  bed,  was  not  sparing  of  scoffs  and  insults  towards  his 
assailants  ;  and  at  first  he  absolutely  refused  to  listen  to  the 
king's  summons."  But  Louis  persisted  without  wavering  in  his 
enterprise,  exposing  himself  freely,  and  in  person  leading  his 
infantry  to  the  attack  when  the  men-at-arms  did  not  come  on  or 
bore  themselves  slackly.  He  carried  successively  the  castles  of 
Crecy  and  Nogent,  domains  belonging  to  Thomas  de  Marie,  and 
at  last  reduced  him  to  the  necessity  of  buying  himself  off  at  a 
heavy  ransom,  indemnifying  the  churches  he  had  spoiled,  giving 
guarantees  for  future  behavior,  and  earnestly  praying  for  re- 
admission  to  the  communion  of  the  faithful.  As  for  those  folks 
of  Laon,  perpetrators  of  or  accomplices  in  the  murder  of  Bishop 
Gaudri,  who  had  sought  refuge  with  Thomas  de  Marie,  the  king 
showed  them  no  mercy.  "  He  ordered  them,"  says  Suger,  "  to 
be  strung  up  to  the  gibbet,  and  left  for  food  to  the  voracity  of 
kites,  and  crows,  and  vultures." 

There  are  certain  discrepancies  between  the  two  accounts, 
both  contemporaneous,  which  we  possess  of  this  incident  in  the 
earliest  years  of  the  twelfth  century,  one  in  the  Life  of  Louis 
the  Fat,  by  Suger,  and  the  other  in  the  Life  of  Guibert  of 
Nogent,  by  himself.  They  will  be  easily  recognized  on  com- 
paring what  was  said,  after  Suger,  in  Chapter  XVIII.  of  this 
history,  with  what  has  just  been  said  here  after  Guibert.     But 


Chap.  XIX.]     THE    COMMUNES   AND    THIRD    ESTATE.       229 

these  discrepancies  are  of  no  historical  importance,  for  they 
make  no  difference  in  respect  of  the  essential  facts  character- 
istic of  social  condition  at  the  period,  and  of  the  behavior  and 
position  of  the  actors. 

Louis  the  Fat,  after  his  victory  over  Thomas  de  Marie  and 
the  fugitives  from  Laon,  went  to  Laon  with  the  Archbishop  of 
Rheims ;  and  the  presence  of  the  king,  whilst  restoring  power  to 
the  foes  of  the  commune,  inspired  them,  no  doubt,  with  a  little 
of  the  spirit  of  moderation,  for  there  was  an  interval  of  peace, 
during  which  no  attention  was  paid  to  anything  but  expiatory 
ceremonies  and  the  restoration  of  the  churches  which  had  been 
a  prey  to  the  flames.  The  archbishop  celebrated  a  solemn  mass 
for  the  repose  of  the  souls  of  those  who  had  perished  during  the 
disturbances,  and  he  preached  a  sermon  exhorting  serfs  to  sub- 
mit themselves  to  their  masters,  and  warning  them  on  pain  of 
anathema  from  resisting  by  force.  The  burghers  of  Laon,  how- 
ever, did  not  consider  every  sort  of  resistance  forbidden,  and 
the  lords  had,  no  doubt,  been  taught  not  to  provoke  it,  for  in 
1128,  sixteen  years  after  the  murder  of  Bishop  Gaudri,  fear  of  a 
fresh  insurrection  determined  his  successor  to  consent  to  the 
institution  of  a  new  commune,  the  charter  of  which  was  rati- 
fied by  Louis  the  Fat  in  an  assembly  held  at  Compiegne.  Only 
the  name  of  commune  did  not  recur  in  this  charter ;  it  was 
replaced  by  that  of  Peace-establishment ;  the  territorial  bounda- 
ries of  the  commune  were  called  peace-boundaries,  and  to  desig- 
nate its  members  recourse  was  had  to  the  formula,  All  those  who 
have  signed  this  peace.  The  preamble  of  the  charter  runs,  "  In 
the  name  of  the  holy  and  indivisible  Trinity,  we  Louis,  by  the 
grace  of  God  king  of  the  French,  do  make  known  to  all  our 
lieges  present  and"  to  come  that,  with  the  consent  of  the  barons 
of  our  kingdom  and  the  inhabitants  of  the  city  of  Laon,  we  have 
set  up  in  the  said  city  a  peace-establishment."  And  after  having 
enumerated  the  limits,  forms,  and  rules  of  it,  the  charter  con- 
cludes with  this  declaration  of  amnesty  :  "  All  former  trespasses 
and  offences  committed  before  the   ratification  of  the  present 


230  POPULAR   HISTORY    OF   FRANCE.     [Chap.  XIX. 

treaty  are  wholly  pardoned.  If  any  one,  banished  for  having 
trespassed  in  past  time,  desire  to  return  to  the  town,  he  shall 
be  admitted  and  shall  recover  possession  of  his  property.  Ex- 
cepted from  pardon,  however,  are  the  thirteen  whose  names  do 
follow;"  and  then  come  the  names  of  the  thirteen  excepted 
from  the  amnesty  and  still  under  banishment.  "  Perhaps," 
says  M.  Augustin  Thierry,  "  these  thirteen  under  banishment, 
shut  out  forever  from  their  native  town  at  the  very  moment  it 
became  free,  had  been  distinguished  amongst  all  the  burghers  of 
Laon  by  their  opposition  to  the  power  of  the  lords ;  perhaps 
they  had  sullied  by  deeds  of  violence  this  patriotic  opposition  ; 
perhaps  they  had  been  taken  at  hap-hazard  to  suffer  alone  for 
the  crimes  of  their  fellow-citizens."  The  second  hypothesis 
appears  the  most  probable ;  for  that  deeds  of  violence  and  cru- 
elty had  been  committed  alternately  by  the  burghers  and  their 
foes  is  an  ascertained  fact,  and  that  the  charter  of  1128  was 
really  a  work  of  liberal  pacification  is  proved  by  its  contents  and 
wording.  After  such  struggles  and  at  the  moment  of  their 
subsidence  some  of  the  most  violent  actors  always  bear  the 
burden  of  the  past,  and  amongst  the  most  violent  some  are  often 
the  most  sincere. 

For  forty-seven  years  after  the  charter  of  Louis  the  Fat  the 
town  of  Laon  enjoyed  the  internal  peace  and  the  communal  lib- 
erties it  had  thus  achieved  ;  but  in  1175  a  new  bishop,  Roger  de 
Rosoy,  a  man  of  high  birth,  and  related  to  several  of  the  great 
lords  his  neighbors,  took  upon  himself  to  disregard  the  regimen 
of  freedom  established  at  Laon.  The  burghers  of  Laon,  taught 
by  experience,  applied  to  the  king,  Louis  the  Young,  and  offered 
him  a  sum  of  money  to  grant  them  a  charter  of  commune. 
Bishop  Roger,  "by  himself  and  through  his  friends,"  says  a 
chronicler,  a  canon  of  Laon,  "  implored  the  king  to  have  pity 
on  his  Church,  and  abolish  the  serfs'  commune ;  but  the  king, 
clinging  to  the  promise  he  had  received  of  money,  would  not 
listen  to  the  bishop  or  his  friends,"  and  in  1177  gave  the 
burghers  of  Laon  a  charter  which  confirmed  their  peace-estab- 


Chap.  XIX.]     THE   COMMUNES   AND   THIRD   ESTATE.        231 

lishment  of  1128.  Bishop  Roger,  however,  did  not  hold  himself 
beaten.  He  claimed  the  help  of  the  lords  his  neighbors,  and 
renewed  the  war  against  the  burghers  of  Laon,  who,  on  their 
side,  asked  and  obtained  the  aid  of  several  communes  in  the 
vicinity.  In  an  access  of  democratic  rashness,  instead  of  await- 
ing within  their  walls  the  attack  of  their  enemies,  they  marched 
out  without  cavalry  to  the  encounter,  ravaging  as  they  went  the 
lands  of  the  lords  whom  they  suspected  of  being  ill-disposed 
towards  them ;  but  on  arriving  in  front  of  the  bishop's  allies, 
"  all  this  rustic  multitude,"  says  the  canon-chronicler,  "  terror- 
stricken  at  the  bare  names  of  the  knights  they  found  assembled, 
took  suddenly  to  flight,  and  a  great  number  of  the  burghers 
were  massacred  before  reaching  their  city."  Louis  the  Young 
then  took  the  field  to  help  them ;  but  Baldwin,  Count  of  Hai- 
nault,  went  to  the  aid  of  the  Bishop  of  Laon  with  seven  hundred 
knights  and  several  thousand  infantry.  King  Louis,  after  hav- 
ing occupied  and  for  some  time  held  in  sequestration  the  lands 
of  the  bishop,  thought  it  advisable  to  make  peace  rather  than 
continue  so  troublesome  a  war,  and  at  the  intercession  of  the 
pope  and  the  Count  of  Hainault  he  restored  to  Roger  de  Rosoy 
his  lands  and  his  bishopric  on  condition  of  living  in  peace  with 
the  commune.  And  so  long  as  Louis  VII.  lived,  the  bishop 
did  refrain  from  attacking  the  liberties  of  the  burghers  of  Laon  ; 
but  at  the  king's  death,  in  1180,  he  applied  to  his  successor, 
Philip  Augustus,  and  offered  to  cede  to  him  the  lordship  of 
Fere-sur-Oise,  of  which  he  was  the  possessor,  provided  that 
Philip  by  charter  abolished  the  commune  of  Laon.  Philip 
yielded  to  the  temptation,  and  in  1190  published  an  ordinance 
to  the  following  purport :  "  Desiring  to  avoid  for  our  soul  every 
sort  of  danger,  we  do  entirely  quash  the  commune  established 
in  the  town  of  Laon  as  being  contrary  to  the  rights  and  liberties 
of  the  metropolitan  church  of  St.  Mary,  in  regard  for  justice  and 
for  the  sake  of  a  happy  issue  to  the  pilgrimage  which  we  be 
bound  to  make  to  Jerusalem."  But  next  year,  upon  entreaty  and 
offers  from  the  burghers  of  Laon,  Philip  changed  his  mind,  and 


232  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.     [Chap.  XIX. 

without  giving  back  the  lordship  of  Fere-sur-Oise  to  the  bishop, 
guaranteed  and  confirmed  in  perpetuity  the  peace-establishment 
granted  in  1128  to  the  town  of  Laon,  "  on  the  condition  that 
every  year  at  the  feast  of  All  Saints  they  shall  pay  to  us  and 
our  successors  two  hundred  livres  of  Paris."  For  a  century 
all  strife  of  any  consequence  ceased  between  the  burghers  of 
Laon  and  their  bishop  ;  there  was  no  real  accord  or  good  under- 
standing between  them,  but  the  public  peace  was  not  troubled, 
and  neither  the  Kings  of  France  nor  the  great  lords  of  the 
neighborhood  interfered  in  its  affairs.  In  1294  some  knights 
and  clergy  of  the  metropolitan  chapter  of  Laon  took  to  quar- 
relling with  some  burghers ;  and  on  both  sides  they  came  to 
deeds  of  violence,  which  caused  sanguinary  struggles  in  the 
streets  of  the  town  and  even  in  the  precincts  of  the  episcopal 
palace.  The  bishop  and  his  chapter  applied  to  the  pope,  Boni- 
face VIII.,  who  applied  to  the  king,  Philip  the  Handsome,  to 
put  an  end  to  these  scandalous  disturbances.  Philip  the  Hand- 
some, in  his  turn,  applied  to  the  Parliament  of  Paris,  which, 
after  inquiry,  "  deprived  the  town  of  Laon  of  every  right  of 
commune  and  college,  under  whatsoever  name."  The  king  did 
not  like  to  execute  this  decree  in  all  its  rigor.  He  granted  the 
burghers  of  Laon  a  charter  which  maintained  them  provisionally 
in  the  enjoyment  of  their  political  rights,  but  with  this  destruc- 
tive clause  :  "  Said  commune  and  said  shrievalty  shall  be  in 
force  only  so  far  as  it  shall  be  our  pleasure."  For  nearly  thirty 
years,  from  Philip  the  Handsome  to  Philip  of  Yalois,  the  bish- 
ops and  burghers  of  Laon  were  in  litigation  before  the  crown  of 
France,  the  former  for  the  maintenance  of  the  commune  of  Laon 
in  its  precarious  condition  and  at  the  king's  good  pleasure,  the 
latter  for  the  recovery  of  its  independent  and  durable  character. 
At  last,  in  1331,  Philip  of  Yalois,  "  considering  that  the  olden 
commune  of  Laon,  by  reason  of  certain  misdeeds  and  excesses, 
notorious,  enormous,  and  detestable,  had  been  removed  and  put 
down  forever  by  decree  of  the  court  of  our  most  dear  lord  and 
uncle,  King  Philip  the  Handsome,  confirmed  and  approved  by 


THE   CATHEDRAL   OF  LAON.  —  Page  233. 


Chap.  XIX.]     THE   COMMUNES  AND   THIRD   ESTATE.        233 

our  most  dear  lords,  Kings  Philip  and  Charles,  whose  souls  are 
with  God,  we,  on  great  deliberation  of  our  council,  have  or- 
dained that  no  commune,  corporation,  college,  shrievalty,  mayor, 
jurymen,  or  any  other  estate  or  symbol  belonging  thereto,  be  at 
any  time  set  up  or  established  at  Laon."  By  the  same  ordi- 
nance the  municipal  administration  of  Laon  was  put  under  the 
sole  authority  of  the  king  and  his  delegates  ;  and  to  blot  out  all 
remembrance  of  the  olden  independence  of  the  commune,  a 
later  ordinance  forbade  that  the  tower  from  which  the  two  huge 
communal  bells  had  been  removed  should  thenceforth  be  called 
belfry-tower. 

The  history  of  the  commune  of  Laon  is  that  of  the  majority 
of  the  towns  which,  in  Northern  and  Central  France,  struggled 
from  the  eleventh  to  the  fourteenth  century  to  release  them- 
selves from  feudal  oppression  and  violence.  Cambrai,  Beauvais, 
Amiens,  Soissons,  Rheims,  Vezelay,  and  several  other  towns  dis- 
played at  this  period  a  great  deal  of  energy  and  perseverance  in 
bringing  their  lords  to  recognize  the  most  natural  and  the  most 
necessary  rights  of  every  human  creature  and  community.  But 
within  their  walls  dissensions  were  carried  to  extremity,  and 
existence  was  ceaselessly  tempestuous  and  troublous ;  the  burgh- 
ers were  hasty,  brutal,  and  barbaric,  —  as  barbaric  as  the  lords 
against  whom  they  were  defending  their  liberties.  Amongst 
those  mayors,  sheriffs,  jurats,  and  magistrates  of  different  de- 
grees and  with  different  titles,  set  up  in  the  communes,  many 
came  before  very  long  to  exercise  dominion  arbitrarily,  violently, 
and  in  their  own  personal  interests.  The  lower  orders  were  in 
an  habitual  state  of  jealousy  and  sedition  of  a  ruffianly  kind 
towards  the  rich,  the  heads  of  the  labor  market,  the  controllers 
of  capital  and  of  work.  This  reciprocal  violence,  this  anarchy, 
these  internal  evils  and  dangers,  with  their  incessant  renewals, 
called  incessantly  for  intervention  from  without ;  and  when,  after 
releasing  themselves  from  oppression  and  iniquity  coming  from 
above,  the  burghers  fell  a  prey  to  pillage  and  massacre  coming 
from  below,  they  sought  for  a  fresh  protector  to  save  them  from 

vol.  ii.  30 


234  POPULAR  HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.     [Chap.  XIX. 

this  fresh  evil.  Hence  that  frequent  recourse  to  the  king,  the 
great  suzerain  whose  authority  could  keep  down  the  bad  magis- 
trates of  the  commune  or  reduce  the  mob  to  order ;  and  hence 
also,  before  long,  the  progressive  downfall,  or,  at  any  rate,  the 
utter  enfeeblement  of  those  communal  liberties  so  painfully  won. 
France  was  at  that  stage  of  existence  and  of  civilization  at 
which  security  can  hardly  be  purchased  save  at  the  price  of  lib- 
erty. We  have  a  phenomenon  peculiar  to  modern  times  in  the 
provident  and  persistent  effort  to  reconcile  security  with  liberty, 
and  the  bold  development  of  individual  powers  with  the  regular 
maintenance  of  public  order.  This  admirable  solution  of  the 
social  problem,  still  so  imperfect  and  unstable  in  our  time,  was 
unknown  in  the  middle  ages ;  liberty  was  then  so  stormy  and  so 
fearful,  that  people  conceived  before  long,  if  not  a  disgust  for  it, 
at  any  rate  a  horror  of  it,  and  sought  at  any  price  a  political 
regimen  which  would  give  them  some  security,  the  essential  aim 
of  the  social  estate.  When  we  arrive  at  the  end  of  the  thir- 
teenth and  the  beginning  of  the  fourteenth  century,  we  see  a 
host  of  communes  falling  into  decay  or  entirely  disappearing; 
they  cease  really  to  belong  to  and  govern  themselves ;  some, 
like  Laon,  Cambrai,  Beauvais,  and  Rheims,  fought  a  long  while 
against  decline,  and  tried  more  than  once  to  re-establish  them- 
selves in  all  their  independence ;  but  they  could  not  do  without 
the  king's  support  in  their  resistance  to  their  lords,  laic  or  eccle- 
siastical ;  and  they  were  not  in  a  condition  to  resist  the  kingship, 
which  had  grown  whilst  they  were  perishing.  Others,  Meulan 
and  Soissons,  for  example  (in  1320  and  1335),  perceived  their 
weakness  early,  and  themselves  requested  the  kingship  to  de- 
liver them  from  their  communal  organization,  and  itself  assume 
their  administration.  And  so  it  is  about  this  period,  under  St. 
Louis  and  Philip  the  Handsome,  that  there  appear  in  the  collec- 
tions of  acts  of  the  French  kingship,  those  great  ordinances 
which  regulate  the  administration  of  all  communes  within  the 
kingly  domains.  Hitherto  the  kings  had  ordinarily  dealt  with 
each  town  severally ;  and  as  the  majority  were  almost  indepen- 


Chap.  XIX.]     THE   COMMUNES   AND   THIRD   ESTATE.       235 

dent,  or  invested  with  privileges  of  different  kinds  and  carefully 
respected,  neither  the  king  nor  any  great  suzerain  dreamed  of 
prescribing  general  rules  for  communal  regimen,  nor  of  adminis- 
tering after  a  uniform  fashion  all  the  communes  in  their  do- 
mains. It  was  under  St.  Louis  and  Philip  the  Handsome  that 
general  regulations  on  this  subject  began.  The  French  com- 
munes were  associations  too  small  and  too  weak  to  suffice  for 
self-maintenance  and  self-government  amidst  the  disturbances 
of  the  great  Christian  community ;  and  they  were  too  numerous 
and  too  little  enlightened  to  organize  themselves  into  one  vast 
confederation,  capable  of  giving  them  a  central  government. 
The  communal  liberties  were  not  in  a  condition  to  found  in 
France  a  great  republican  community;  to  the  kingship  apper- 
tained the  power  and  fell  the  honor  of  presiding  over  the  forma- 
tion and  the  fortunes  of  the  French  nation. 

But  the  kingship  did  not  alone  accomplish  this  great  work. 
At  the  very  time  that  the  communes  were  perishing  and  the 
kingship  was  growing,  a  new  power,  a  new  social  element,  the 
Third  Estate,  was  springing  up  in  France ;  and  it  was  called  to 
take  a  far  more  important  place  in  the  history  of  France,  and  to 
exercise  far  more  influence  upon  the  fate  of  the  French  father- 
land, than  it  had  been  granted  to  the  communes  to  acquire  dur- 
ing their  short  and  incoherent  existence. 

It  may  astonish  many  who  study  the  records  of  French  his- 
tory from  the  eleventh  to  the  fourteenth  century,  not  to  find 
anywhere  the  words  third  estate  ;  and  a  desire  may  arise  to  know 
whether  those  inquirers  of  our  day  who  have  devoted  themselves 
professedly  to  this  particular  study,  have  been  more  successful 
in  discovering  that  grand  term  at  the  time  when  it  seems  that 
we  ought  to  expect  to  meet  with  it.  The  question  was,  there- 
fore, submitted  to  a  learned  member  of  the  Academie  des  In- 
scriptions et  Belles-lettres,  M.  Littre,  in  fact,  whose  Dictionnaire 
etymologique  de  la  Langue  Frangaise  is  consulted  with  respect  by 
the  whole  literary  world,  and  to  a  young  magistrate,  M.  Picot, 
to   whom  the  Academie   des  Sciences  morales  et  politiques  but 


236  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.     [Chap.  XIX. 

lately  assigned  the  first  prize  for  his  great  work  on  the  question 
it  had  propounded,  as  to  the  history  and  influence  of  states- 
general  in  France  ;  and  here  are  inserted,  textually,  the  answers 
given  by  two  gentlemen  of  so  much  enlightenment  and  authority 
upon  such  a  subject. 

M.  Littre,  writing  on  the  3d  of  October,  1871,  says,  "  I  do 
not  find,  in  my  account  of  the  word,  third  estate  before  the  six- 
teenth century.  I  quote  these  two  instances  of  it :  '  As  to  the 
third  order  called  third  estate  .  .  .'  (La  Noue,  Discours,  p.  541)  ; 
and  '  clerks  and  deputies  for  the  third  estate,  same  for  the  estate 
of  labor  (laborers).'  (Coustumier  general,  t.  i.  p.  335.)  In  the 
fifteenth  century,  or  at  the  end  of  the  fourteenth,  in  the  poems 
of  Eustace  Deschamps,  I  have  — 

1  Prince,  dost  thou  yearn  for  good  old  times  again  t 
In  good  old  ways  the  Three  Estates  restrain.' 

"  At  date  of  fourteenth  century,  in  Du  Cange,  we  read  under 
the  word  status,  '  Per  tres  status  eoneilii  generalis  Prailatorum, 
Baronum,  nobilium  et  universitatum  comitatum.''  According  to 
these  documents,  I  think  it  is  in  the  fourteenth  century  that 
they  began  to  call  the  three  orders  tres  status,  and  that  it  was 
only  in  the  sixteenth  century  that  they  began  to  speak  in  French 
of  the  tiers  estat  (third  estate).  But  I  cannot  give  this  con- 
clusion as  final,  seeing  that  it  is  supported  only  by  the  doc- 
uments I  consulted  for  my  dictionary." 

M.  Picot  replied  on  the  3d  of  October,  1871,  "  It  is  certain 
that  acts  contemporary  with  King  John  frequently  speak  of  the 
4  three  estates,'  but  do  not  utter  the  word  tiers-etat  (third  estate). 
The  great  chronicles  and  Froissart  say  nearly  always,  '  the 
church-men,  the  nobles,  and  the  good  towns.'  The  royal  ordi- 
nances employ  the  same  terms ;  but  sometimes,  in  order  not  to 
limit  their  enumeration  to  the  deputies  of  closed  cities,  they  add, 
the  good  towns,  and  the  open  country  (Ord.  t.  iii.  p.  221,  note). 
When  they  apply  to  the  provincial  estates  of  the  Oil  tongue  it 
is  the  custom  to  say,  the  burghers  and  inhabitants ;  when  it  is  a 


Chap.  XIX.]     THE   COMMUNES   AND   THIRD   ESTATE.        237 

question  of  the  Estates  of  Languedoc,  the  commonalties  of  the 
seneschalty.  Such  were,  in  the  middle  of  the  fourteenth  cen- 
tury, the  only  expressions  for  designating  the  third  order. 

"  Under  Louis  XI.,  Juvenal  des  Ursins,  in  his  harangue,  ad- 
dresses the  deputies  of  the  third  by  the  title  of  burghers  and 
inhabitants  of  the  good  towns.  At  the  States  of  Tours,  the 
spokesman  of  the  estates,  John  de  Rely,  says,  the  people  of  the 
common  estate,  the  estate  of  the  people.  The  special  memorial 
presented  to  Charles  VIII.  by  the  three  orders  of  Languedoc 
likewise  uses  the  word  people. 

"  It  is  in  Masselin's  report  and  the  memorial  of  grievances 
presented  in  1485  that  I  meet  for  the  first  time  with  the  expres- 
sion third  estate  (tiers-etaC).  Masselin  says,  '  It  was  decided 
that  each  section  should  furnish  six  commissioners,  two  ecclesias- 
tics, two  nobles,  and  two  of  the  third  estate  (duos  ecclesiasticos,  duos 
nobiles,  et  duos  tertii  status.y  (Documents  inedits  sur  VHistoire 
de  France;  proce  s-verbal  de  Masselin,  p.  76.)  The  commence- 
ment of  the  chapter  headed  Of  the  Commons  (du  commun)  is, 
4  For  the  third  and  common  estate  the  said  folks  do  represent 
.  .  .'  and  a  few  lines  lower,  comparing  the  kingdom  with  the 
human  body,  the  compilers  of  the  memorial  say,  ;  The  members 
are  the  clergy,  the  nobles,  and  the  folks  of  the  third  estate.  (Ibid, 
after  the  report  of  Masselin,  memorial  of  grievances,  p.  669.) 

"  Thus,  at  the  end  of  the  fifteenth  century,  the  expression 
third  estate  was  constantly  employed ;  but  is  it  not  of  older  date  ? 
There  are  words  which  spring  so  from  the  nature  of  things  that 
they  ought  to  be  contemporaneous  with  the  ideas  they  express ; 
their  appearance  in  language  is  inevitable,  and  is  scarcely  noticed 
there.  On  the  day  when  the  deputies  of  the  communes  entered 
an  assembly,  and  seated  themselves  beside  the  first  two  orders, 
the  new  comer,  by  virtue  of  the  situation  and  rank  occupied, 
took  the  name  of  third  order ;  and  as  our  fathers  used  to  speak 
of  the  third  denier  (tiers  denier),  and  the  third  day  (tierce 
journee),  so  they  must  have  spoken  of  t  the  (tiers-Stat)  third 
estate.     It  was  only  at  the  end  of  the  fifteenth  century  that  the 


238  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.     [Chap.  XIX. 

expression  became  common ;  but  I  am  inclined  to  believe  that 
it  existed  in  the  beginning  of  the  fourteenth. 

"  For  an  instant  I  had  imagined,  in  the  course  of  my  re- 
searches, that,  under  King  John,  the  ordinances  had  designated 
the  good  towns  by  the  name  of  third  estate.  I  very  soon  saw  my 
mistake  ;  but  you  will  see  how  near  I  found  myself  to  the 
expression  of  which  we  are  seeking  the  origin.  Four  times, 
in  the  great  ordinance  of  December,  1335,  the  deputies  wrest 
from  the  king  a  promise  that  in  the  next  assemblies  the  resolu- 
tions shall  be  taken  according  to  the  unanimity  of  the  orders 
4  without  two  estates,  if  they  be  of  one  accord,  being  able  to 
bind  the  third.9  At  first  sight  it  might  be  supposed  that  the 
deputies  of  the  towns  had  an  understanding  to  secure  them- 
selves from  the  clangers  of  common  action  on  the  part  of  the 
clergy  and  noblesse,  but  a  more  attentive  examination  made 
me  fly  back  to  a  more  correct  opinion :  it  is  certain  that  the 
three  orders  had  combined  for  mutual  protection  against  an 
alliance  of  any  two  of  them.  Besides,  the  States  of  1576  saw 
how  the  clergy  readopted  to  their  profit,  against  the  two  laic 
orders,  the  proposition  voted  in  1355.  It  is  beyond  a  doubt 
that  this  doctrine  served  to  keep  the  majority  from  oppressing 
the  minority  whatever  may  have  been  its  name.  Only,  in  point 
of  fact,  it  was  most  frequently  the  third  estate  that  must  have 
profited  by  the  regulation. 

"  In  brief,  we  may,  before  the  fifteenth  century,  make  suppo- 
sitions, but  they  are  no  more  than  mere  conjectures.  It  was 
at  the  great  States  of  Tours,  in  1468,  that,  for  the  first  time, 
the  third  order  bore  the  name  which  has  been  given  to  it  by 
history." 

The  fact  was  far  before  its  name.  Had  the  third  estate  been 
centred  entirely  in  the  communes  at  strife  with  their  lords, 
had  the  fate  of  burgherdom  in  France  depended  on  the  com- 
munal liberties  won  in  that  strife,  we  should  see,  at  the  end  of 
the  thirteenth  century,  that  element  of  French  society  in  a  state 
of  feebleness  and  decay.     But  it  was  far  otherwise.     The  third 


Chap.  XIX.]     THE   COMMUNES   AND   THIRD  ESTATE.        239 

estate  drew  its  origin  and  nourishment  from  all  sorts  of  sources ; 
and   whilst  one  was  within  an  ace  of  drying  up,  the   others 
remained  abundant  and  fruitful.     Independently  of  the   com- 
mune properly  so  called  and  invested  with  the  right  of  self- 
government,   many   towns   had   privileges,    serviceable    though 
limited  franchises,  and  under  the  administration  of  the  king's 
officers  they  grew  in  population  and  wealth.     These  towns  did 
not  share,   towards   the   end  of  the  thirteenth  century,  in  the 
decay   of  the   once  warlike    and   victorious   communes.     Local 
political  liberty  was  to  seek  in    them  ;    the  spirit  of   indepen- 
dence and  resistance  did  not  prevail  in  them  ;  but  we  see  grow- 
ing up  in  them  another  spirit  which  has  played  a  grand  part  in 
French  history,  a  spirit  of  little  or  no  ambition,  of  little  or  no 
enterprise,  timid   even  and  scarcely  dreaming  of  actual  resist- 
ance, but  honorable,  inclined  to  order,  persevering,  attached  to 
its  traditional  franchises,  and  quite  able  to  make  them  respected, 
sooner  or  later.     It  was  especially  in  the  towns  administered  in 
the  king's  name  and  by  his  provosts  that  there  was  a  develop- 
ment  of    this   spirit,    which   has   long   been  the    predominant 
characteristic  of  French  burgherdom.     It  must  not  be  supposed 
that,   in   the   absence   of  real   communal    independence,    these 
towns   lacked   all   internal   security.     The   kingship   was   ever 
fearful  lest  its  local  officers  should  render  themselves  indepen- 
dent, and  remembered  what  had  become  in  the  ninth  century 
of  the  crown's  offices,  the  duchies  and   the  countships,  and  of 
the   difficulty  it  had  at   that   time   to   recover    the    scattered 
remnants  of  the  old  imperial  authority.     And  so  the  Capetian 
kings  with  any  intelligence,  such  as  Louis  VI.,  Philip  Augustus, 
St.  Louis,  and  Philip  the  Handsome,  were  careful  to  keep  a 
hand  over  their  provosts,  sergeants,  and  officers  of  all  kinds,  in 
order  that  their  power  should  not  grow  so  great  as  to  become 
formidable.     At  "this  time,  besides,  Parliament  and   the  whole 
judicial  system  was  beginning  to  take  form  ;  and  many  ques- 
tions relating   to  the   administration   of  the   towns,  many  dis- 
putes between  the  provosts  and  burghers,  were  carried  before 


240  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.     [Chap.  XIX. 

the  Parliament  of  Paris,  and  there  decided  with  more  inde- 
pendence and  equity  than  they  would  have  been  by  any  other 
power.  A  certain  measure  of  impartiality  is  inherent  in  judicial 
power  ;  the  habit  of  delivering  judgment  according  to  written 
texts,  of  applying  laws  to  facts,  produces  a  natural  and  almost 
instinctive  respect  for  old-acquired  rights.  In  Parliament  the 
towns  often  obtained  justice  and  the  maintenance  of  their 
franchises  against  the  officers  of  the  king.  The  collection  of 
kingly  ordinances  at  this  time  abounds  with  instances  of  the 
kind.  These  judges,  besides,  these  bailiffs,  these  provosts, 
these  seneschals,  and  all  these  officers  of  the  king  or  of  the 
great  suzerains,  formed  before  long  a  numerous  and  powerful 
class.  Now  the  majority  amongst  them  were  burghers,  and 
their  number  and  their  power  were  turned  to  the  advantage 
of  burgherdom,  and  led  day  by  day  to  its  further  extension 
and  importance.  Of  all  the  original  sources  of  the  third  estate, 
this  it  is,  perhaps,  which  has  contributed  most  to  bring  about 
the  social  preponderance  of  that  order.  Just  when  burgher- 
dom, but  lately  formed,  was  losing  in  many  of  the  communes 
a  portion  of  its  local  liberties,  at  that  same  moment  it  was 
seizing  by  the  hand  of  Parliaments,  provosts,  judges,  and  ad- 
ministrators of  all  kinds,  a  large  share  of  central  power.  It 
was  through  burghers  admitted  into  the  king's  service  and 
acting  as  administrators  or  judges  in  his  name  that  communal 
independence  and  charters  were  often  attacked  and  abolished ; 
but  at  the  same  time  they  fortified  and  elevated  burgherdom, 
they  caused  it  to  acquire  from  day  to  day  more  wealth,  more 
credit,  more  importance  and  power  in  the  internal  and  external 
affairs  of  the  state. 

Philip  the  Handsome,  that  ambitious  and  despotic  prince,  was 
under  no  delusion  when  in  1302,  1308,  and  1314,  on  convoking 
the  first  states-general  of  France,  he  summoned  thither  "  the 
deputies  of  the  good  towns."  He  did  not  yet  give  them  the 
name  of  third  estate  ;  but  he  was  perfectly  aware  that  he  was 
thus   summoning  to   his  ■  aid   against   Boniface    VIII.    and   the 


Chap.  XIX.]     THE   COMMUNES  AND  THIRD   ESTATE.       241 

Templars  and  the  Flemings  a  class  already  invested  throughout 
the  country  with  great  influence  and  ready  to  lend  him  efficient 
support.  His  son,  Philip  the  Long,  was  under  no  delusion 
when  in  1317  and  1321  he  summoned  to  the  states-general 
"  the  commonalties  and  good  towns  of  the  kingdom  "  to  decide 
upon  the  interpretation  of  the  Salic  law  as  to  the  succession  to 
the  throne,  "  or  to  advise  as  to  the  means  of  establishing  a 
uniformity  of  coins,  weights,  and  measures;"  he  was  perfectly 
aware  that  the  authority  of  burgherdom  would  be  of  great 
assistance  to  him  in  the  accomplishment  of  acts  so  grave. 
And  the  three  estates  played  the  prelude  to  the  formation, 
painful  and  slow  as  it  was,  of  constitutional  monarchy,  when, 
in  1338,  under  Philip  of  Valois,  they  declared,  "  in  presence  of 
the  said  king,  Philip  of  Valois,  who  assented  thereto,  that  there 
should  be  no  power  to  impose  or  levy  talliage  in  France  if 
urgent  necessity  or  evident  utility  did  not  require  it,  and 
then  only  by  grant  of  the  people  of  the  estates." 

In  order  to  properly  understand  the  French  third  estate 
and  its  importance,  more  is  required  than  to  look  on  at  its 
birth  ;  a  glance  must  be  taken  at  its  grand  destiny  and  the 
results  at  which  it  at  last  arrived.  Let  us,  therefore,  anticipate 
centuries  arfd  get  a  glimpse,  now  at  once,  of  that  upon  which 
the  course  of  events  from  the  fourteenth  to  the  nineteenth 
century  will  shed  full  light. 

Taking  the  history  of  France  in  its  entirety  and  under  all 
its  phases,  the  third  estate  has  been  the  most  active  and  de- 
termining element  in  the  process  of  Freneh  civilization.  If 
we  follow  it  in  its  relation  with  the  general  government  of 
the  country,  we  see  it  at  first  allied  for  six  centuries  to 
the  kingship,  struggling  without  cessation  against  the  feudal 
aristocracy  and  giving  predominance  in  place  thereof  to  a 
single  central  power,  pure  monarchy,  closely  bordering,  though 
with  some  frequently  repeated  but  rather  useless  reservations, 
on  absolute  monarchy.  But,  so  soon  as  it  had  gained  this 
victory   and  brought   about   this   revolution,   the   third   estate 

VOL.   II.  31 


242  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.     [Chap.  XIX. 

went  in  pursuit  of  a  new  one,  attacking  that  single  power  to 
the  foundation  of  which  it  had  contributed  so  much  and  enter- 
ing upon  the  task  of  changing  pure  monarchy  into  constitu- 
tional monarchy.  Under  whatever  aspect  we  regard  it  during 
these  two  great  enterprises,  so  different  one  from  the  other, 
whether  we  study  the  progressive  formation  of  French  society 
or  that  of  its  government,  the  third  estate  is  the  most  powerful 
and  the  most  persistent  of  the  forces  which  have  influenced 
French  civilization. 

This  fact  is  unique  in  the  history  of  the  world.  We  recog- 
nize in  the  career  of  the  chief  nations  of  Asia  and  ancient 
Europe  nearly  all  the  great  facts  which  have  agitated  France ; 
we  meet  in  them  mixture  of  different  races,  conquest  of  people 
by  people,  immense  inequality  between  classes,  frequent  changes 
in  the  forms  of  government  and  extent  of  public  power ;  but 
nowhere  is  there  any  appearance  of  a  class  which,  starting 
from  the  very  lowest,  from  being  feeble,  despised,  and  almost 
imperceptible  at  its  origin,  rises  by  perpetual  motion  and  by 
labor  without  respite,  strengthens  itself  from  period  to  period, 
acquires  in  succession  whatever  it  lacked,  wealth,  enlighten- 
ment, influence,  changes  the  face  of  society  and  the  nature  of 
government,  and  arrives  at  last  at  such  a  pitch  of  predominance 
that  it  may  be  said  to  be  absolutely  the  country.  More  than 
once  in  the  world's  history  the  external  semblances  of  such  and 
such  a  society  have  been  the  same  as  those  which  have  just 
been  reviewed  here,  but  it  is  mere  semblance.  In  India,  for 
example,  foreign  invasions  and  the  influx  and  establishment  of 
different  races  upon  the  same  soil  have  occurred  over  and  over 
again ;  but  with  what  result  ?  The  permanence  of  caste  has 
not  been  touched  ;  and  society  has  kept  its  divisions  into  dis- 
tinct and  almost  changeless  classes.  After  India  take  China. 
There  too  history  exhibits  conquests  similar  to  the  conquest 
of  Europe  by  the  Germans ;  and  there  too,  more  than  once, 
the  barbaric  conquerors  settled  amidst  a  population  of  the 
conquered.     What   was   the   result?     The   conquered   all  but 


Chap.  XIX.]     THE   COMMUNES   AND   THIRD   ESTATE.        243 

absorbed  the  conquerors,  and  changelessness  was  still  the  pre- 
dominant characteristic  of  the  social  condition.  In  Western 
Asia,  after  the  invasions  of  the  Turks,  the  separation  between 
victors  and  vanquished  remained  insurmountable  ;  no  ferment 
in  the  heart  of  society,  no  historical  event,  could  efface  this 
first  effect  of  conquest.  In  Persia,  similar  events  succeeded 
one  another ;  different  races  fought  and  intermingled ;  and  the 
end  was  irremediable  social  anarchy,  which  has  endured  for 
ages  without  any  change  in  the  social  condition  of  the  country, 
without  a  shadow  of  any  development  of  civilization. 

So  much  for  Asia.  Let  us  pass  to  the  Europe  of  the  Greeks 
and  Romans.  At  the  first  blush  we  seem  to  recognize  some 
analogy  between  the  progress  of  these  brilliant  societies  and 
that  of  French  society ;  but  the  analogy  is  only  apparent ; 
there  is,  once  more,  nothing  resembling  the  fact  and  the  history 
of  the  French  third  estate.  One  thing  only  has  struck  sound 
judgments  as  being  somewhat  like  the  struggle  of  burgherdom 
in  the  middle  ages  against  the  feudal  aristocracy,  and  that  is 
the  struggle  between  the  plebeians  and  patricians  at  Rome. 
They  have  often  been  compared ;  but  it  is  a  baseless  compari- 
son. The  struggle  between  the  plebeians  and  patricians  com- 
menced from  the  very  cradle  of  the  Roman  republic  ;  it  was 
not,  as  happened  in  the  France  of  the  middle  ages,  the  result 
of  a  slow,  difficult,  incomplete  development  on  the  part  of  a 
class  which,  through  a  long  course  of  great  inferiority  in 
strength,  wealth,  and  credit,  little  by  little  extended  itself 
and  raised  itself,  and  ended  by  engaging  in  a  real  contest 
with  the  superior  class.  It  is  now  acknowledged  that  the 
struggle  at  Rome  between  the  plebeians  and  patricians  was  a 
sequel  and  a  prolongation  of  the  war  of  conquest,  was  an 
effort  on  the  part  of  the  aristocracy  of  the  cities  conquered 
by  Rome  to  share  the  rights  of  the  conquering  aristocracy. 
The  families  of  plebeians  were  the  chief  families  of  the  van- 
quished peoples ;  and  though  placed  by  defeat  in  a  position  of 
inferiority,   they   were   not   any  the   less   aristocratic  families, 


244  POPULAR   HISTORY  OF   FRANCE.     [Chap.  XIX. 

powerful  but  lately  in  their  own  cities,  encompassed  by  clients, 
and  calculated  from  the  very  first  to  dispute  with  their  con- 
querors the  possession  of  power.  There  is  nothing  in  all  this 
like  that  slow,  obscure,  heart-breaking  travail  of  modern 
burgherdom  escaping,  full  hardly,  from  the  midst  of  slavery 
or  a  condition  approximating  to  slavery,  and  spending  centuries, 
not  in  disputing  political  power,  but  in  winning  its  own  civil 
existence.  The  more  closely  the  French  third  estate  is  ex- 
amined, the  more  it  is  recognized  as  a  new  fact  in  the  world's 
history,  appertaining  exclusively  to  the  civilization  of  modern, 
Christian  Europe. 

Not  only  is  the  fact  new,  but  it  has  for  France  an  entirely 
special  interest,  since  —  to  employ  an  expression  much  abused 
in  the  present  day  —  it  is  a  fact  eminently  French,  essentially 
national.  Nowhere  has  burgherdom  had  so  wide  and  so  pro- 
ductive a  career  as  that  which  fell  to  its  lot  in  France.  There 
have  been  communes  in  the  whole  of  Europe,  in  Italy,  Spain, 
Germany,  and  England,  as  well  as  in  France.  Not  only  have 
there  been  communes  everywhere,  but  the  communes  of  France 
are  not  those  which,  as  communes,  under  that  name  and  in  the 
middle  ages,  have  played  the  chiefest  part  and  taken  the  highest 
place  in  history.  The  Italian  communes  were  the  parents  of 
glorious  republics.  The  German  communes  became  free  and 
sovereign  towns,  which  had  their  own  special  history,  and 
exercised  a  great  deal  of  influence  upon  the  general  history 
of  Germany.  The  communes  of  England  made  alliance  with 
a  portion  of  the  English  feudal  aristocracy,  formed  with  it  the 
preponderating  house  in  the  British  government,  and  thus 
played,  full  early,  a  mighty  part  in  the  history  of  their  country. 
Far  were  the  French  communes,  under  that  name  and  in  their 
day  of  special  activity,  from  rising  to  such  political  importance 
and  to  such  historical  rank.  And  yet  it  is  in  France  that  the 
people  of  the  communes,  the  burgherdom,  reached  the  most 
complete  and  most  powerful  development,  and  ended  by  acquir- 
ing  the   most   decided    preponderance    in    the    general    social 


Chap.  XIX.]     THE   COMMUNES   AND   THIRD    ESTATE.        245 

structure.  There  have  been  communes,  we  say,  throughout 
Europe  ;  but  there  has  not  really  been  a  victorious  third  estate 
anywhere,  save  in  France.  The  revolution  of  1789,  the  greatest 
ever  seen,  was  the  culminating  point  arrived  at  by  the  third 
estate ;  and  France  is  the  only  country  in  which  a  man  of  large 
mind  could,  in  a  burst  of  burgher's  pride,  exclaim,  "  What  is 
the  third  estate  ?     Every  tiling." 

Since  the  explosion,  and  after  all  the  changes,  liberal  and  illib- 
eral, due  to  the  revolution  of  1789,  there  has  been  a  common- 
place, ceaselessly  repeated,  to  the  effect  that  there  are  no  more 
classes  in  French  society  —  there  is  only  a  nation  of  thirty-seven 
millions  of  persons.  If  it  be  meant  that  there  are  now  no  more 
privileges  in  France,  no  special  laws  and  private  rights  for  such 
and  such  families,  proprietorships,  and  occupations,  and  that 
legislation  is  the  same,  and  there  is  perfect  freedom  of  move- 
ment for  all,  at  all  steps  of  the  social  ladder,  it  is  true ;  oneness 
of  laws  and  similarity  of  rights,  is  now  the  essential  and  charac- 
teristic fact  of  civil  society  in  France,  an  immense,  an  excellent, 
and  a  novel  fact  in  the  history  of  human  associations.  But  be- 
neath the  dominance  of  this  fact,  in  the  midst  of  this  national 
unity  and  this  civil  equality,  there  evidently  and  necessarily 
exist  numerous  and  important  diversities  and  inequalities,  which 
oneness  of  laws  and  similarity  of  rights  neither  prevent  nor 
destroy.  In  point  of  property,  real  or  personal,  land  or  capital, 
there  are  rich  and  poor ;  there  are  the  large,  the  middling,  and 
the  small  property.  Though  the  great  proprietors  may  be  less 
numerous  and  less  rich,  and  the  middling  and  the  small  propri- 
etors more  numerous  and  more  powerful  than  they  were  of  yore, 
this  does  not  prevent  the  difference  from  being  real  and  great 
enough  to  create,  in  the  civil  body,  social  positions  widely  dif- 
ferent and  unequal.  In  the  professions  which  are  called  liberal, 
and  which  live  by  brains  and  knowledge,  amongst  barristers, 
doctors,  scholars,  and  literates  of  all  kinds,  some  rise  to  the  first 
rank,  attract  to  themselves  practice  and  success,  and  win  fame, 
wealth,  and  influence ;  others  make  enough,  by  hard  work,  for 


246  POPULAR  HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.     [Chap.  XIX. 

the  necessities  of  their  families  and  the  calls  of  their  position ; 
others  vegetate  obscurely  in  a  sort  of  lazy  discomfort.  In  the 
other  vocations,  those  in  which  the  labor  is  principally  physical 
and  manual,  there  also  it  is  according  to  nature  that  there 
should  be  different  and  unequal  positions ;  some,  by  brains  and 
good  conduct,  make  capital,  and  get  a  footing  upon  the  ways  of 
competence  and  progress ;  others,  being  dull,  or  idle,  or  disor- 
derly, remain  in  the  straitened  and  precarious  condition  of  ex- 
istence depending  solely  on  wages.  Throughout  the  whole 
extent  of  the  social  structure,  in  the  ranks  of  labor  as  well  as 
of  property,  differences  and  inequalities  of  position  are  produced 
or  kept  up  and  co-exist  with  oneness  of  laws  and  similarit}^  of 
rights.  Examine  any  human  associations,  in  any  place  and  at 
any  time,  and  whatever  diversity  there  may  be  in  point  of  their 
origin,  organization,  government,  extent,  and  duration,  there 
will  be  found  in  all  three  types  of  social  position  always  funda- 
mentally the  same,  though  they  may  appear  under  different  and 
differently  distributed  forms ;  1st,  men  living  on  income  from 
their  properties,  real  or  personal,  land  or  capital,  without  seek- 
ing to  increase  them  by  their  own  personal  and  assiduous  labor  ; 
2d,  men  devoted  to  working  up  and  increasing,  by  their  own 
personal  and  assiduous  labor,  the  real  or  personal  properties, 
land  or  capital  they  possess ;  3d,  men  living  by  their  daily  labor, 
without  land  or  capital  to  give  them  an  income.  And  these  dif- 
ferences, these  inequalities  in  the  social  position  of  men,  are  not 
matters  of  accident  or  violence,  or  peculiar  to  such  and  such  a 
time,  or  such  and  such  a  country ;  they  are  matters  of  universal 
application,  produced  spontaneously  in  every  human  society  by 
virtue  of  the  primitive  and  general  laws  of  human  nature,  in  the 
midst  of  events  and  under  the  influence  of  social  systems  utterly 
different. 

These  matters  exist  now  and  in  France  as  they  did  of  old  and 
elsewhere.  Whether  you  do  or  do  not  use  the  name  of  classes, 
the  new  French  social  fabric  contains,  and  will  not  cease  to  con- 
tain, social  positions  widely  different  and  unequal.     What  con- 


Chap.  XIX.]     THE   COMMUNES   AND   THIRD   ESTATE.        247 

stitutes  its  blessing  and  its  glory  is,  that  privilege  and  fixity  no 
longer  cling  to  this  difference  of  positions;  that  there  are  no 
more  special  rights  and  advantages  legally  assigned  to  some  and 
inacessible  to  others  ;  that  all  roads  are  free  and  open  to  all  to 
rise  to  everything  ;  that  personal  merit  and  toil  have  an  infi- 
nitely greater  share  than  was  ever  formerly  allowed  to  them  in 
the  fortunes  of  men.  The  third  estate  of  the  old  regimen  exists 
no  more ;  it  disappeared  in  its  victory  over  privilege  and  absolute 
power;  it  has  for  heirs  the  middle  classes,  as  they  are  now 
called ;  but  these  classes,  whilst  inheriting  the  conquests  of  the 
old  third  estate,  hold  them  on  new  conditions  also,  as  legitimate 
as  binding.  To  secure  their  own  interests,  as  well  as  to  dis- 
charge their  public  duty,  they  are  bound  to  be  at  once  conserva- 
tive and  liberal;  they  must,  on  the  one  hand,  enlist  and  rally 
beneath  their  flag  the  old,  once  privileged  superiorities,  which 
have  survived  the  fall  of  the  old  regimen,  and,  on  the  other 
hand,  fully  recognize  the  continual  upward  movement  which  is 
fermenting  in  the  whole  body  of  the  nation.  That,  in  its  rela- 
tions with  the  aristocratic  classes,  the  third  estate  of  the  old 
regimen  should  have  been  and  for  a  long  time  remained  uneasy, 
disposed  to  take  umbrage,  jealous  and  even  envious,  is  no  more 
than  natural ;  it  had  its  rights  to  urge  and  its  conquests  to  gain ; 
nowadays  its  conquests  have  been  won,  the  rights  are  recognized, 
proclaimed,  and  exercised ;  the  middle  classes  have  no  longer 
any  legitimate  ground  for  uneasiness  or  envy ;  they  can  rest 
with  full  confidence  in  their  own  dignity  and  their  own  strength; 
they  have  undergone  all  the  necessary  trials,  and  passed  all  the 
necessary  tests.  In  respect  of  the  lower  orders,  and  the  democ- 
racy properly  so  called,  the  position  of  the  middle  classes  is  no 
less  favorable ;  they  have  no  fixed  line  of  separation ;  for  who 
can  say  where  the  middle  classes  begin  and  where  they  end  ? 
In  the  name  of  the  principles  of  common  rights  and  general  lib- 
erty they  were  formed ;  and  by  the  working  of  the  same  prin- 
ciples they  are  being  constantly  recruited,  and  are  incessantly 
drawing  new  vigor  from  the  sources  whence  they  sprang.     To 


248  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.     [Chap.  XIX. 

maintain  common  rights  and  free  movement  upwards  against  the 
retrograde  tendencies  of  privilege  and  absolute  power,  on  the 
one  hand,  and  on  the  other  against  the  insensate  and  destructive 
pretensions  of  levellers  and  anarchists,  is  now  the  double  busi- 
ness of  the  middle  classes ;  and  it  is  at  the  same  time,  for  them- 
selves, the  sure  way  of  preserving  preponderance  in  the  state, 
in  the  name  of  general  interests,  of  which  those  classes  are  the 
most  real  and  most  efficient  representatives. 

On  reaching,  in  our  history,  the  period  at  which  Philip  the 
Handsome,  by  giving  admission  amongst  the  states-general  to 
the  "  burghers  of  the  good  towns,"  substituted  the  third  estate 
for  the  communes,  and  the  united  action  of  the  three  great 
classes  of  Frenchmen  for  their  local  struggles,  we  did  well  to 
halt  a  while,  in  order  clearly  to  mark  the  position  and  part  of 
the  new  actor  in  the  great  drama  of  national  life.  We  will  now 
return  to  the  real  business  of  the  drama,  that  is,  to  the  history 
of  France,  which  became,  in  the  fourteenth  century,  more  com- 
plex, more  tragic,  and  more  grand  than  it  had  ever  yet  been. 


Chap.  XX.]        THE   HUNDRED   YEARS'   WAR.  249 


CHAPTER    XX. 
THE   HUNDRED  YEARS'  WAR.— PHILIP  VI.  AND   JOHN   II. 

WE  have  just  been  spectators  at  the  labor  of  formation  of 
the  French  kingship  and  the  French  nation.  We  have 
seen  monarchical  unity  and  national  unity  rising,  little  by  little, 
out  of  and  above  the  feudal  system,  which  had  been  the  first 
result  of  barbarians  settling  upon  the  ruins  of  the  Roman  em- 
pire. In  the  fourteenth  century,  a  new  and  a  vital  question 
arose  :  Will  the  French  dominion  preserve  its  nationality  ?  Will 
the  kingship  remain  French,  or  pass  to  the  foreigner?  This 
question  brought  ravages  upon  France,  and  kept  her  fortunes  in 
suspense  for  a  hundred  years  of  war  with  England,  from  the 
reign  of  Philip  of  Valois  to  that  of  Charles  VII. ;  and  a  young 
girl  of  Lorraine,  called  Joan  of  Arc,  had  the  glory  of  communi- 
cating to  France  that  decisive  impulse  which  brought  to  a  tri- 
umphant issue  the  independence  of  the  French  nation  and 
kingship. 

As  we  have  seen  in  the  preceding  chapter,  the  elevation  of 
Philip  of  Valois  to  the  throne,  as  representative  of  the  male  line 
amongst  the  descendants  of  Hugh  Capet,  took  place  by  virtue, 
not  of  any  old  written  law,  but  of  a  traditional  right,  recognized 
and  confirmed  by  two  recent  resolutions  taken  at  the  death  of 
the  two  eldest  sons  of  Philip  the  Handsome.  The  right  thus 
promulgated  became  at  once  a  fact  accepted  by  the  whole  of 
France ;  Philip  of  Valois  had  for  rival  none  but  a  foreign 
prince,  and  "  there  was  no  mind  in  France,"  say  contemporary 
chroniclers,  "to  be  subjects  of  the  King  of  England."  Some 
weeks  after  his  accession,  on  the  29th  of  May,  1328,  Philip  was 

vol.  ii.  32 


250  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.      [Chap.  XX. 

crowned  at  Rheims,  in  presence  of  a  brilliant  assemblage  of 
princes  and  lords,  French  and  foreign ;  and  next  year,  on  the 
6th  of  June,  Edward  III.,  King  of  England,  being  summoned 
to  fulfil  a  vassal's  duties  by  doing  homage  to  the  King  of  France 
for  the  duchy  of  Aquitaine,  which  he  held,  appeared  in  the  ca- 
thedral of  Amiens,  with  his  crown  on  his  head,  his  sword  at  his 
side,  and  his  gilded  spurs  on  his  heels.  When  he  drew  near  to 
the  throne,  the  Viscount  de  Melun,  king's  chamberlain,  invited 
him  to  lay  aside  his  crown,  his  sword,  and  his  spurs,  and  go 
down  on  his  knees  before  Philip.  Not  without  a  murmur,  Ed- 
ward obeyed ;  but  when  the  chamberlain  said  to  him,  "  Sir,  you, 
as  Duke  of  Aquitaine,  became  liegeman  of  my  lord  the  king 
who  is  here,  and  do  promise  to  keep  towards  him  faith  and  loy- 
alty," Edward  protested,  saying  that  he  owed  only  simple  hom- 
age, and  not  liege-homage  —  a  closer  bond,  imposing  on  the  vas- 
sal more  stringent  obligations  [to  serve  and  defend  his  suzerain 
against  every  enemy  whatsoever].  "Cousin,"  said  Philip  to 
him,  "  we  would  not  deceive  you,  and  what  you  have  now  done 
contenteth  us  well  until  you  have  returned  to  your  own  country, 
and  seen  from  the  acts  of  your  predecessors  what  you  ought  to 
do."  "  Gramercy,  dear  sir,"  answered  the  King  of  England; 
and  with  the  reservation  he  had  just  made,  and  which  was  added 
to  the  formula  of  homage,  he  placed  his  hands  between  the 
hands  of  the  King  of  France,  who  kissed  him  on  the  mouth,  and 
accepted  his  homage,  confiding  in  Edward's  promise  to  certify 
himself  by  reference  to  the  archives  of  England  of  the  extent  to 
which  his  ancestors  had  been  bound.  The  certification  took 
place,  and  on  the  30th  of  March,  1331,  about  two  years  after  his 
visit  to  Amiens,  Edward  III.  recognized,  by  letters  express, 
"  that  the  said  homage  which  we  did  at  Amiens  to  the  King  of 
France  in  general  terms,  is  and  must  be  understood  as  liege ; 
and  that  we  are  bound,  as  Duke  of  Aquitaine  and  peer  of 
France,  to  show  him  faith  and  loyalty." 

The  relations  between  the  two   kings  were  not  destined  to 
be  for  long  so  courteous  and  so  pacific.     Even  before  the  ques- 


ARREST   OF  THE   DAUPHIN'S   COUNCILLORS. —Page  334. 


EDWARD   III.    OF  ENGLAND   DOING   HOMAGE   TO   PHILIP  VI.  — Page  250. 


Chap.  XX.]  THE  HUNDRED   YEARS'    WAR.  251 

tion  of  the  succession  to  the  throne  of  France  arose  between 
them  they  had  adopted  contrary  policies.  When  Philip  was 
crowned  at  Rheims,  Louis  de  Nevers,  Count  of  Flanders,  re- 
paired thither  with  a  following  of  eighty-six  knights,  and  he  it 
was  to  whom  the  right  belonged  of  carrying  the  sword  of  the 
kingdom.  The  heralds-at-arms  repeated  three  times,  "  Count 
of  Flanders,  if  you  are  here,  come  and  do  your  duty."  He 
made  no  answer.  The  king  was  astounded,  and  bade  him 
explain  himself.  "My  lord,"  answered  the  count,  "may  it 
please  you  not  to  be  astounded ;  they  called  the  Count  of 
Flanders,  and  not  Louis  de  Nevers."  "  What  then  !  "  replied 
the  king  ;  "  are  you  not  the  Count  of  Flanders  ?  "  "  It  is  true, 
sir,"  rejoined  the  other,  "  that  I  bear  the  name,  but  I  do  not 
possess  the  authority;  the  burghers  of  Bruges,  Ypres,  and 
Cassel  have  driven  me  from  my  land,  and  there  scarce  remains 
but  the  town  of  Ghent  where  I  dare  show  myself."  "  Fair 
cousin,"  said  Philip,  "  we  will  swear  to  you  by  the  holy  oil 
which  hath  this  day  trickled  over  our  brow  that  we  will  not 
enter  Paris  again  before  seeing  you  reinstated  in  peaceable  pos- 
session of  the  countship  of  Flanders."  Some  of  the  French 
barons  who  happened  to  be  present  represented  to  the  king  that 
the  Flemish  burghers  were  powerful ;  that  autumn  was  a  bad  sea- 
son for  a  war  in  their  country ;  and  that  Louis  the  Quarreller, 
in  1315,  had  been  obliged  to  come  to  a  stand-still  in  a  similar 
expedition.  Philip  consulted  his  constable,  Walter  de  Chatillon, 
who  had  served  the  kings  his  predecessors  in  their  wars  against 
Flanders.  "  Whoso  hath  good  stomach  for  fight,"  answered  the 
constable,  "  fmdeth  all  times  seasonable."  "  Wr ell,  then,"  said 
the  king,  embracing  him,  "  whoso  loveth  me  will  follow  me." 
The  war  thus  resolved  upon  was  forthwith  begun.  Philip,  on 
arriving  with  his  army  before  Cassel,  found  the  place  defended 
by  sixteen  thousand  Flemings  under  the  command  of  Nicholas 
Zannequin,  the  richest  of  the  burghers  of  Furnes,  and  already 
renowned  for  his  zeal  in  the  insurrection  against  the  count.  For 
several  days  the  French  remained  inactive  around  the  mountain 


252  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF  FRANCE.      [Chap.  XX. 

on  which  Cassel  is  built,  and  which  the  knights,  mounted  on 
iron-clad  horses,  were  unable  to  scale.  The  Flemings  had 
planted  on  a  tower  of  Cassel  a  flag  carrying  a  cock,  with  this 
inscription :  — 

"  When  the  cock  that  is  hereon  shall  crow, 
The  foundling  king  herein  shall  go." 

They  called  Philip  the  foundling  king  because  he  had  no 
business  to  expect  to  be  king.  Philip  in  his  wrath  gave  up  to 
fire  and  pillage  the  outskirts  of  the  place.  The  Flemings  mar- 
shalled at  the  top  of  the  mountain  made  no  movement.  On 
the  24th  of  August,  1328,  about  three  in  the  afternoon,  the 
French  knights  had  disarmed.  Some  were  playing  at  chess ; 
others  "  strolled  from  tent  to  tent  in  their  fine  robes,  in  search 
of  amusement ; "  and  the  king  was  asleep  in  his  tent  after  a  long 
carouse,  when  all  on  a  sudden  his  confessor,  a  Dominican  friar, 
shouted  out  that  the  Flemings  were  attacking  the  camp.  Zan- 
nequin,  indeed,  "  came  out  full  softly  and  without  a  bit  of  noise," 
says  Froissart,  with  his  troops  in  three  divisions,  to  surprise  the 
French  camp  at  three  points.  He  was  quite  close  to  the  king's 
tent,  and  some  chroniclers  say  that  he  was  already  lifting  his 
mace  over  the  head  of  Philip,  who  had  armed  in  hot  haste, 
and  was  defended  only  by  a  few  knights,  of  whom  one  was 
waving  the  oriflamme  round  him,  when  others  hurried  up,  and 
Zannequin  was  forced  to  stay  his  hand.  At  two  other  points  of 
the  camp  the  attack  had  failed.  The  French  gathered  about 
the  king  and  the  Flemings  abGut  Zannequin ;  and  there  took 
place  so  stubborn  a  fight,  that  "  of  sixteen  thousand  Flemings 
who  were  there  not  one  recoiled,"  says  Froissart,  "  and  all  were 
left  there  dead  and  slain  in  three  heaps  one  upon  another,  with- 
out budging  from  the  spot  where  the  battle  had  begun."  The 
same  evening  Philip  entered  Cassel,  which  he  set  on  fire,  and, 
in  a  few  days  afterwards,  on  leaving  for  France,  he  said  to 
Count  Louis,  before  the  French  barons,  "  Count,  I  have  worked 
for  you  at  my  own  and  my  barons'  expense  ;  I  give  you  back 


Chap.  XX.]  THE   HUNDRED   YEARS'   WAR.  253 

your  land,  recovered  and  in  peace  ;  so  take  care  that  justice  be 
kept  up  in  it,  and  that  I  have  not,  through  your  fault,  to  return ; 
for  if  I  do,  it  will  be  to  my  own  profit  and  to  your  hurt." 

The  Count  of  Flanders  was  far  from  following  the  advice 
of  the  King  of  France,  and  the  King  of  France  was  far  from 
foreseeing  whither  he  would  be  led  by  the  road  upon  which  he 
had  just  set  foot.  It  has  already  been  pointed  out  to  what  a 
position  of  wealth,  population,  and  power,  industrial  and  com- 
mercial activity  had  in  the  thirteenth  century  raised  the  towns 
of  Flanders,  Bruges,  Ghent,  Lille,  Ypres,  Furnes,  Courtrai,  and 
Douai,  and  with  what  energy  they  had  defended  against  their 
lords  their  prosperity  and  their  liberties.  It  was  the  struggle, 
sometimes  sullen,  sometimes  violent,  of  feudal  lordship  against 
municipal  burgherdom.  The  able  and  imperious  Philip  the 
Handsome  had  tested  the  strength  of  the  Flemish  cities,  and 
had  not  cared  to  push  them  to  extremity.  When,  in  1322, 
Count  Louis  de  Nevers,  scarcely  eighteen  years  of  age,  inher- 
ited from  his  grandfather  Robert  III.  the  countship  of  Flan- 
ders, he  gave  himself  up,  in  respect  of  the  majority  of  towns  in 
the  countship,  to  the  same  course  of  oppression  and  injustice  as 
had  been  familiar  to  his  predecessors  ;  the  burghers  resisted  him 
with  the  same,  often  ruffianly,  energy ;  and  when,  after  a  six 
years'  struggle  amongst  Flemings,  the  Count  of  Flanders,  who 
had  been  conquered  by  the  burghers,  owed  his  return  as  master 
of  his  countship  to  the  King  of  the  French,  he  troubled  himself 
about  nothing  but  avenging  himself  and  enjoying  his  victory  at 
the  expense  of  the  vanquished.  He  chastised,  despoiled,  pro- 
scribed, and  inflicted  atrocious  punishments  ;  and,  not  content 
with  striking  at  individuals,  he  attacked  the  cities  themselves. 
Nearly  all  of  them,  save  Ghent,  which  had  been  favorable  to 
the  count,  saw  their  privileges  annulled  or  curtailed  of  their 
most  essential  guarantees.  The  burghers  of  Bruges  were  obliged 
to  meet  the  count  half  way  to  his  castle  of  Male,  and  on  their 
knees  implore  his  pity.  At  Ypres  the  bell  in  the  tower  was 
broken  up.     Philip  of  Valois  made  himself  a  partner  in  these 


254  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.      [Chap.  XX. 

severities ;  he  ordered  the  fortifications  of  Bruges,  Ypres,  and 
Courtrai  to  be  destroyed,  and  he  charged  French  agents  to  see 
to  their  demolition.  Absolute  power  is  often  led  into  mistakes 
by  its  insolence  ;  but  when  it  is  in  the  hands  of  rash  and  reck- 
less mediocrity,  there  is  no  knowing  how  clumsy  and  blind  it 
can  be.  Neither  the  King  of  France  nor  the  Count  of  Flanders 
seemed  to  remember  that  the  Flemish  communes  had  at  their 
door  a  natural  and  powerful  ally  who  could  not  do  without 
them  any  more  than  they  could  do  without  him.  Woollen 
stuffs,  cloths,  carpets,  warm  coverings  of  every  sort  were  the 
chief  articles  of  the  manufactures  and  commerce  of  Flanders  ; 
there  chiefly  was  to  be  found  all  that  the  active  and  enterpris- 
ing merchants  of  the  time  exported  to  Sweden,  Norway,  Hun- 
gary, Russia,  and  even  Asia ;  and  it  was  from  England  that  they 
chiefly  imported  their  wool,  the  primary  staple  of  their  handi- 
work. "  All  Flanders,"  says  Froissart,  "  was  based  upon  cloth  ; 
and  no  wool,  no  cloth."  On  the  other  hand  it  was  to  Flanders 
that  England,  her  land-owners  and  farmers,  sold  the  fleeces  of 
their  flocks ;  and  the  two  countries  were  thus  united  by  the  bond 
of  their  mutual  prosperity.  The  Count  of  Flanders  forgot 
or  defied  this  fact  so  far  as  in  1336,  at  the  instigation,  it  is 
said,  of  the  King  of  France,  to  have  all  the  English  in  Flanders 
arrested  and  kept  in  prison.  Reprisals  were  not  long  deferred. 
On  the  5th  of  October  in  the  same  year  the  King  of  England 
ordered  the  arrest  of  all  Flemish  merchants  in  his  kingdom 
and  the  seizure  of  their  goods  ;  and  he  at  the  same  time  pro- 
hibited the  exportation  of  wool.  "  Flanders  was  given  over," 
says  her  principal  historian,  "  to  desolation ;  nearly  all  her 
looms  ceased  rattling  on  one  and  the  same  day,  and  the  streets 
of  her  cities,  but  lately  filled  with  rich  and  busy  workmen,  were 
overrun  with  beggars  who  asked  in  vain  for  work  to  escape 
from  misery  and  hunger."  The  English  land-owners  and  farm- 
ers did  not  suffer  so  much,  but  were  scarcely  less  angered ;  only 
it  was  to  the  King  of  France  and  the  Count  of  Flanders  rather 
than  their  own  king  that  they  held  themselves  indebted  for  the 


Chap.  XX.]  THE   HUNDRED   YEARS'    WAR.  255 

stagnation  of  their  affairs,  and  their  discontent  sought  vent  only 
in  execration  of  the  foreigner. 

When  great  national  interests  are  to  such  a  point  misconceived 
and  injured,  there  crop  up,  before  long,  clear-sighted  and  bold 
men  who  undertake  the  championship  of  them,  and  foment  the 
quarrel  to  explosion-heat,  either  from  personal  views  or  patri- 
otic feeling.  The  question  of  succession  to  the  throne  of  France 
seemed  settled  by  the  inaction  of  the  King  of  England,"*  and  the 
formal  homage  he  had  come  and  paid  to  the  King  of  France  at 
Amiens  ;  but  it  was  merely  in  abeyance.  Many  people  both  in 
England  and  in  France  still  thought  of  it  and  spoke  of  it ;  and 
many  intrigues  bred  of  hope  or  fear  were  kept  up  with  reference 
to  it  at  the  courts  of  the  two  kings.  When  the  rumblings  of 
anger  were  loud  on  both  sides  in  consequence  of  affairs  in  Flan- 
ders, two  men  of  note,  a  Frenchman  and  a  Fleming,  considering 
that  the  hour  had  come,  determined  to  revive  the  question,  and 
turn  the  great  struggle  which  could  not  fail  to  be  excited 
thereby  to  the  profit  of  their  own  and  their  countries'  cause,  for 
it  is  singular  how  ambition  and  devotion,  selfishness  and  patri- 
otism, combine  and  mingle  in  the  human  soul,  and  even  in  great 
souls. 

Philip  VI.  had  embroiled  himself  with  a  prince  of  his  line, 
Robert  of  Artois,  great-grandson  of  Robert  the  first  Count  of 
Artois,  who  was  a  brother  of  St.  Louis,  and  was  killed  during 
the  crusade  in  Egypt,  at  the  battle  of  Mansourah.  As  early 
as  the  reign  of  Philip  the  Handsome  Robert  claimed  the  count- 
ship  of  Artois  as  his  heritage ;  but  having  had  his  pretensions 
rejected  by  a  decision  of  the  peers  of  the  kingdom,  he  had  hoped 
for  more  success  under  Philip  of  Valois,  whose  sister  he  had 
married.  Philip  tried  to  satisfy  him  with  another  domain  raised 
to  a  peerage  ;  but  Robert,  more  and  more  discontented,  got 
involved  in  a  series  of  intrigues,  plots,  falsehoods,  forgeries,  and 
even,  according  to  public  report,  imprisonments  and  crimes, 
which,  in  1332,  led  to  his  being  condemned  by  the  court  of 
peers  to  banishment  and  the  confiscation  of  his  property.     He 


256  POPULAR   HISTORY    OF   FRANCE.       [Chap.  XX. 

fled  for  refuge  first  to  Brabant,  and  then  to  England,  to  the 
court  of  Edward  III.,  who  received  him  graciously,  and  whom 
he  forthwith  commenced  inciting  to  claim  the  crown  of  France, 
"his  inheritance,"  as  he  said,  "which  King  Philip  holds  most 
wrongfully."  Edward  III.,  who  was  naturally  prudent,  and 
had  been  involved,  almost  ever  since  his  accession,  in  a  stubborn 
war  with  Scotland,  cared  but  little  for  rushing  into  a  fresh  and 
far  more  serious  enterprise.  But  of  all  human  passions  hatred 
is  perhaps  the  most  determined  in  the  prosecution  of  its  designs. 
Robert  accompanied  the  King  of  England  in  his  campaigns 
northward ;  and  "  Sir,"  said  he,  whilst  they  were  marching 
together  over  the  heaths  of  Scotland,  "  leave  this  poor  country, 
and  give  your  thoughts  to  the  noble  crown  of  France."  When 
Edward,  on  returning  to  London,  was  self-corn placently  rejoicing 
at  his  successes  over  his  neighbors,  Robert  took  pains  to  pique 
his  self-respect,  by  expressing  astonishment  that  he  did  not  seek 
more  practical  and  more  brilliant  successes.  Poetry  sometimes 
reveals  sentiments  and  processes  about  which  history  is  silent. 
We  read  in  a  poem  of  the  fourteenth  century,  entitled  The  vow 
on  the  heron,  "  In  the  season  when  summer  is  verging  upon  its 
decline,  and  the  gay  birds  are  forgetting  their  sweet  converse 
on  the  trees,  now  despoiled  of  their  verdure,  Robert  seeks  for 
consolation  in  the  pleasures  of  fowling,  for  he  cannot  forget  the 
gentle  land  of  France,  the  glorious  country  whence  he  is  an 
exile.  He  carries  a  falcon,  which  goes  flying  over  the  waters 
till  a  heron  falls  its  prey  ;  then  he  calls  two  young  damsels  to 
take  the  bird  to  the  king's  palace,  singing  the  while  in  sweet 
discourse :  '  Fly,  fly,  ye  honorless  knights  ;  give  place  to  gallants 
on  whom  love  smiles ;  here  is  the  dish  for  gallants  who  are 
faithful  to  their  mistresses.  The  heron  is  the  most  timid  of 
birds,  for  it  fears  its  own  shadow  ;  it  is  for  the  heron  to  receive 
the  vows  of  King  Edward,  who,  though  lawful  King  of  France, 
dares  not  claim  that  noble  heritage.'  At  these  words  the  king 
flushed,  his  heart  was  wroth,  and  he  cried  aloud,  '  Since  coward 
is  thrown  in  my  teeth,  I  make  vow  [on  this  heron]  to  the  God 


Chap.  XX.]  THE   HUNDRED   YEARS'   WAR.  257 

of  Paradise  that  ere  a  single  year  rolls  by  I  will  defy  the  King 
of  Paris.'  Count  Robert  hears  and  smiles ;  and  low  to  his  own 
heart  he  says,  *  Now  have  I  won :  and  my  heron  will  cause  a 
great  war.'  " 

Robert's  confidence  in  this  tempter's  work  of  his  was  well 
founded,  but  a  little  premature.  Edward  III.  did  not  repel 
him ;  complained  loudly  of  the  assistance  rendered  by  the  King 
of  France  to  the  Scots  ;  gave  an  absolute  refusal  to  Philip's 
demands  for  the  extradition  of  the  rebel  Robert,  and  retorted 
by  protesting,  in  his  turn,  against  the  reception  accorded  in 
France  to  David  Bruce,  the  rival  of  his  own  favorite  Baliol  for 
the  throne  of  Scotland.  In  Aquitaine  he  claimed  as  of  his  own 
domain  some  places  still  occupied  by  Philip.  Philip,  on  his 
side,  neglected  no  chance  of  causing  Edward  embarrassment, 
and  more  or  less  overtly  assisting  his  foes.  The  two  kings 
were  profoundly  distrustful  one  of  the  other,  foresaw,  both  of 
them,  that  they  would  one  day  come  to  blows,  and  prepared 
for  it  by  mutually  working  to  entangle  and  enfeeble  one  another. 
But  neither  durst  as  yet  proclaim  his  wishes  or  his  fears,  and 
take  the  initiative  in  those  unknown  events  which  war  must 
bring  about  to  the  great  peril  of  their  people  and  perhaps  of 
themselves.  From  1334  to  1337,  as  they  continued  to  advance 
towards  the  issue,  foreseen  and  at  the  same  time  deferred,  of  this 
situation,  they  were  both  of  them  seeking  allies  in  Europe  for 
their  approaching  struggle.  Philip  had  a  notable  one  under  his 
thumb,  the  pope  at  that  time  settled  at  Avignon ;  and  he  made 
use  of  him  for  the  purpose  of  proposing  a  new  crusade,  in  which 
Edward  III.  should  be  called  upon  to  join  with  him.  If  Ed- 
ward complied,  any  enterprise  on  his  part  against  France  would 
become  impossible  ;  and  if  he  declined,  Christendom  would  cry 
fie  upon  him.  Two  successive  popes,  John  XXII.  and  Bene- 
dict XII.,  preached  the  crusade,  and  offered  their  mediation  to 
settle  the  differences  between  the  two  kings ;  but  they  were 
unsuccessful  in  both  their  attempts.  The  two  kings  strained 
every  nerve  to  form  laic  alliances.     Philip  did  all  he  could  to 

vol.  n.  33 


258  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.      [Chap.  XX. 

secure  to  himself  the  fidelity  of  Count  Louis  of  Flanders,  whom 
the  King  of  England  several  times  attempted,  but  in  vain,  to 
win  over.  Philip  drew  into  close  relations  with  himself  the 
Kings  of  Bohemia  and  Navarre,  the  Dukes  of  Lorraine  and 
Burgundy,  the  Count  of  Foix,  the  Genoese,  the  Grand  Prior  of 
the  Knights  of  St.  John  of  Jerusalem,  and  many  other  lords. 
The  two  principal  neighbors  of  Flanders,  the  Count  of  Hainault 
and  the  Duke  of  Brabant,  received  the  solicitations  of  both 
kings  at  one  and  the  same  time.  The  former  had  to  wife  Joan 
of  Valois,  sister  of  the  King  of  France,  but  he  had  married  his 
daughter  Philippa  to  the  King  of  England ;  and  when  Edward's 
envoys  came  and  asked  for  his  support  in  "  the  great  business  " 
which  their  master  had  in  view,  "  If  the  king  can  succeed  in 
it,"  said  the  count,  "  I  shall  be  right  glad.  It  may  well  be 
supposed  that  my  heart  is  with  him,  him  who  hath  my  daughter, 
rather  than  with  King  Philip,  though  I  have  married  his  sister ; 
for  he  hath  filched  from  me  the  hand  of  the  young  Duke  of 
Brabant,  who  should  have  wedded  my  daughter  Isabel,  and 
hath  kept  him  for  a  daughter  of  his  own.  So  help  will  I  my 
dear  and  beloved  son  the  King  of  England  to  the  best  of  my 
power.  But  he  must  get  far  stronger  aid  than  mine,  for  Hai- 
nault is  but  a  little  place  in  comparison  with  the  kingdom  of 
France,  and  England  is  too  far  off  to  succor  us."  "  Dear  sir," 
said  the  envoys,  "  advise  us  of  what  lords  our  master  might  best 
seek  aid,  and  in  what  he  might  best  put  his  trust."  "  By  my 
soul,"  said  the  count,  "  I  could  not  point  to  lord  so  powerful  to 
aid  him  in  this  business  as  would  be  the  Duke  of  Brabant,  who 
is  his  cousin-german,  the  Duke  of  Gueldres,  who  hath  his  sister 
to  wife,  and  Sire  de  Fauquemont.  They  are  those  who  would 
have  most  men-at-arms  in  the  least  time,  and  they  are  right 
good  soldiers  ;  provided  that  money  be  given  them  in  propor- 
tion, for  they  are  lords  and  men  who  are  glad  of  pay."  Edward 
III.  went  for  powerful  allies  even  beyond  the  Rhine  ;  he  treated 
with  Louis  V.  of  Bavaria,  Emperor  of-  Germany ;  he  even  had 
a  solemn  interview  with  him  at  a  diet  assembled  at  Coblenz, 


Chap.  XX.]         THE   HUNDRED   YEARS'   WAR.  259 

and  Louis  named  Edward  vicar  imperial  throughout  all  the 
empire  situated  on  the  left  bank  of  the  Rhine,  with  orders 
to  all  the  princes  of  the  Low  Countries  to  follow  and  obey 
him,  for  a  space  of  seven  years,  in  the  field.  But  Louis  of 
Bavaria  was  a  tottering  emperor,  excommunicated  by  the  pope, 
and  with  a  formidable  competitor  in  Frederick  of  Austria. 
When  the  time  for  action  arrived,  King  John  of  Bohemia,  a 
zealous  ally  of  the  French  king,  persuaded  the  Emperor  of 
Germany  that  his  dignity  would  be  compromised  if  he  were  to 
go  and  join  the  army  of  the  English  king,  in  whose  pay  he 
would  appear  to  have  enlisted  ;  and  Louis  of  Bavaria  withdrew 
from  his  alliance  with  Edward  III.,  sending  back  the  subsidies 
he  had  received  from  him. 

Which  side  were  the  Flemings  themselves  to  take  in  a  con- 
flict of  such  importance,  and  already  so  hot  even  before  it  had 
reached  bursting  point  ?  It  was  clearly  in  Flanders  that  each 
king  was  likely  to  find  his  most  efficient  allies ;  and  so  it  was 
there  that  they  made  the  most  strenuous  applications.  Edward 
III.  hastened  to  restore  between  England  and  the  Flemish  com- 
munes the  commercial  relations  which  had  been  for  a  while  dis- 
turbed by  the  arrest  of  the  traders  in  both  countries.  He  sent 
into  Flanders,  even  to  Ghent,  ambassadors  charged  to  enter  into 
negotiations  with  the  burghers ;  and  one  of  the  most  consider- 
able amongst  these  burghers,  Sohier  of  Courtrai,  who  had  but 
lately  supported  Count  Louis  in  his  quarrels  with  the  people  of 
Bruges,  loudly  declared  that  the  alliance  of  the  King  of  Eng- 
land was  the  first  requirement  of  Flanders,  and  gave  apart- 
ments in  his  own  house  to  one  of  the  English  envoys.  Edward 
proposed  the  establishment  in  Flanders  of  a  magazine  for  Eng- 
lish wools  ;  and  he  gave  assurance  to  such  Flemish  weavers  as 
would  settle  in  England  of  all  the  securities  they  could  desire. 
He  even  offered  to  give  his  daughter  Joan  in  marriage  to  the  son 
of  the  Count  of  Flanders.  Philip,  on  his  side,  tried  hard  to 
reconcile  the  communes  of  Flanders  to  their  count,  and  so  make 
them  faithful  to  himself ;  he  let  them  off  two  years'  payment  of 


260  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.      [Chap.  XX. 

a  rent  due  to  him  of  forty  thousand  livres  of  Paris  per  annum  ; 
he  promised  them  the  monopoly  of  exporting  wools  from  France  ; 
he  authorized  the  Brugesmen  to  widen  the  moats  of  their  city, 
and  even  to  repair  its  ramparts.  The  King  of  England's  envoys 
met  in  most  of  the  Flemish  cities  with  a  favor  which  was  real, 
but  intermingled  with  prudent  reservations,  and  Count  Louis 
of  Flanders  remained  ever  closely  allied  with  the  King  of 
France,  "for  he  was  right  French  and  loyal,"  says  Froissart, 
"  and  with  good  reason,  for  he  had  the  King  of  France  almost 
alone  to  thank  for  restoring  him  to  his  country  by  force." 

Whilst,  by  both  sides,  preparations  were  thus  being  made  on 
the  Continent  for  war,  the  question  which  was  to  make  it  burst 
forth  was  being  decided  in  England.  In  the  soul  of  Edward 
temptation  overcame  indecision.  As  early  as  the  month  of 
June,  1336,  in  a  Parliament  assembled  at  Northampton,  he  had 
complained  of  the  assistance  given  by  the  King  of  France  to 
the  Scots,  and  he  had  expressed  a  hope  that  "  if  the  French 
and  the  Scots  were  to  join,  they  would  at  last  offer  him  battle, 
which  the  latter  had  always  carefully  avoided."  In  Septem- 
ber of  the  same  year  he  employed  similar  language  in  a  Parlia- 
ment held  at  Nottingham,  and  he  obtained  therefrom  subsidies 
for  the  war  going  on  not  only  in  Scotland,  but  also  in  Aquitaine, 
against  the  French  king's  lieutenants.  In  April  and  May  of 
the  following  year,  1337,  he  granted  to  Robert  of  Artois,  his 
tempter  for  three  years  past,  court  favors  which  proved  his 
resolution  to  have  been  already  taken.  On  the  21st  of  August 
following  he  formally  declared  war  against  the  King  of  France, 
and  addressed  to  all  the  sheriffs,  archbishops,  and  bishops  of 
his  kingdom  a  circular  in  which  he  attributed  the  initiative  to 
Philip ;  on  the  26th  of  August  he  gave  his  ally,  the  Emperor 
of  Germany,  notice  of  what  he  had  just  done,  whilst,  for  the 
first  time,  insultingly  describing  Philip  as  "  setting  himself  up 
for  King  of  France."  At  last,  on  the  7th  of  October,  1337,  he 
proclaimed  himself  King  of  France,  as  his  lawful  inheritance, 
designating  as  representatives  and  supporters  of  his  right  the 


Chap.  XX.]  THE   HUNDRED   YEARS'    WAR.  261 

Duke  of  Brabant,  the  Marquis  of  Juliers,    the  Count  of  Hai- 
nault,  and  William  de  Bohun,  Earl  of  Northampton. 

The  enterprise  had  no  foundation  in  right,  and  seemed  to 
have  few  chances  of  success.  If  the  succession  to  the  crown 
of  France  had  not  been  regulated  beforehand  by  a  special  and 
positive  law,  Philip  of  Yalois  had  on  his  side  the  traditional 
right  of  nearly  three  centuries  past  and  actual  possession  with- 
out any  disputes  having  arisen  in  France  upon  the  subject.  His 
title  had  been  expressly  declared  by  the  peers  of  the  kingdom, 
sanctioned  by  the  Church,  and  recognized  by  Edward  himself, 
who  had  come  to  pay  him  homage.  He  had  the  general  and 
free  assent  of  his  people :  to  repeat  the  words  of  the  chroniclers 
of  the  time,  "  There  was  no  mind  in  France  to  be  subjects  of 
the  King  of  England."  Philip  VI.  was  regarded  in  Europe  as 
a  greater  and  more  powerful  sovereign  than  Edward  III.  He 
had  the  pope  settled  in  the  midst  of  his  kingdom ;  and  he  often 
traversed  it  with  an  array  of  valiant  nobility  whom  he  knew 
how  to  support  and  serve  on  occasion  as  faithfully  as  lie  was 
served  by  them.  "  He  was  highly  prized  and  honored,"  says 
Froissart,  "  for  the  victory  he  had  won  (at  Cassel)  over  the 
Flemings,  and  also  for  the  handsome  service  he  had  done  his 
cousin  Count  Louis.  He  did  thereby  abide  in  great  prosperity 
and  honor,  and  he  greatly  increased  the  royal  state ;  never  had 
there  been  king  in  France,  it  was  said,  who  had  kept  state  like 
King  Philip,  and  he  provided  tourneys  and  jousts  and  diversions 
in  great  abundance."  No  national  interest,  no  public  ground, 
was  provocative  of  war  between  the  two  peoples ;  it  was  a  war 
of  personal  ambition,  like  that  which  in  the  eleventh  century 
William  the  Conqueror  had  carried  into  England.  The  mem- 
ory of  that  great  event  was  still,  in  the  fourteenth  century,  so 
fresh  in  France,  that  when  the  pretensions  of  Edward  were 
declared,  and  the  struggle  was  begun,  an  assemblage  of  Nor- 
mans, barons  and  knights,  or,  according  to  others,  the  Estates 
of  Normandy  themselves,  came  and  proposed  to  Philip  to  under- 
take once  more,  and  at  their  own  expense,  the  conquest  of  Eng- 


262  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.         [Chap.  XX. 

land,  if  he  would  put  at  their  head  his  eldest  son,  John,  their 
own  duke.  The  king  received  their  deputation  at  Vincennes, 
on  the  23d  of  March,  1339,  and  accepted  their  offer.  They 
bound  themselves  to  supply  for  the  expedition  four  thousand 
men-at-arms  and  twenty  thousand  foot,  whom  they  promised 
to  maintain  for  ten  weeks,  and  even  a  fortnight  beyond,  if, 
when  the  Duke  of  Normandy  had  crossed  to  England,  his  coun- 
cil should  consider  the  prolongation  necessary.  The  conditions 
in  detail  and  the  subsequent  course  of  the  enterprise  thus  pro- 
jected were  minutely  regulated  and  settled  in  a  treaty  pub- 
lished by  Dutillet  in  1588,  from  a  copy  found  at  Caen  when 
Edward  III.  became  master  of  that  city  in  1346.  The  events 
of  the  war,  the  long  fits  of  hesitation  on  the  part  of  both 
kings,  and  the  repeated  alternations  from  hostilities  to  truces 
and  truces  to  hostilities,  prevented  anything  from  coming  of  this 
proposal,  the  authenticity  of  which  has  been  questioned  by  M. 
Michelet  amongst  others,  but  the  genuineness  of  which  has  been 
demonstrated  by  M.  Adolph  Despont,  member  of  the  appeal- 
court  of  Caen,  in  his  learned  Histoire  du  Cotentin. 

Edward  III.,  though  he  had  proclaimed  himself  King  of 
France,  did  not  at  the  outset  of  his  claim  adopt  the  policy  of 
a  man  firmly  resolved  and  burning  to  succeed.  From  1337  to 
1340  he  behaved  as  if  he  were  at  strife  with  the  Count  of 
Flanders  rather  than  with  the  King  of  France.  He  was  inces- 
santly to  and  fro,  either  by  embassy  or  in  person,  between  Eng- 
land, Flanders,  Hainault,  Brabant,  and  even  Germany,  for  the 
purpose  of  bringing  the  princes  and  people  to  actively  co-oper- 
ate with  him  against  his  rival ;  and  during  this  diplomatic 
movement  such  was  the  hostility  between  the  King  of  England 
and  the  Count  of  Flanders  that  Edward's  ambassadors  thought 
it  impossible  for  them  to  pass  through  Flanders  in  safety,  and 
went  to  Holland  for  a  ship  in  which  to  return  to  England.  Nor 
were  their  fears  groundless  ;  for  the  Count  of  Flanders  had 
caused  to  be  arrested,  and  was  still  detaining  in  prison  at  the 
castle  of  Rupelmonde,  the  Fleming  Sohier  of  Courtrai,  who  had 


Chap.  XX.]         THE   HUNDRED   YEARS'   WAR.  263 

received  into  his  house  at  Ghent  one  of  the  English  envoys, 
and  had  shown  himself  favorable  to  their  cause.  Edward 
keenly  resented  these  outrages,  demanded,  but  did  not  obtain, 
the  release  of  Sohier  of  Courtrai,  and  by  way  of  revenge  gave 
orders  in  November,  1337,  to  two  of  his  bravest  captains,  the 
Earl  of  Derby  and  "Walter  de  Manny,  to  go  and  attack  the  fort 
of  Cadsand,  situated  between  the  Island  of  Walcheren  and  the 
town  of  Ecluse  (or  Sluys),  a  post  of  consequence  to  the  Count 
of  Flanders,  who  had  confided  the  keeping  of  it  to  his  bastard 
brother  Guy,  with  five  thousand  of  his  most  faithful  subjects. 
It  was  a  sanguinary  affair.  The  besieged  were  surprised,  but 
defended  themselves  bravely ;  the  landing  cost  the  English 
dear  ;  the  Earl  of  Derby  was  wounded  and  hurled  to  the 
ground,  but  his  comrade,  Walter  de  Manny,  raised  him  up  with 
a  shout  to  his  men  of  "  Lancaster,  for  the  Earl  of  Derby;  "  and 
at  last  the  English  prevailed.  The  Bastard  of  Flanders  was 
made  prisoner ;  the  town  was  pillaged  and  burned ;  and  the 
English  returned  to  England,  and  "  told  their  adventure,"  says 
Froissart,  "  to  the  king,  who  was  right  joyous  when  he  saw 
them  and  learned  how  they  had  sped." 

Thus  began  that  war  which  was  to  be  so  cruel  and  so  long. 
The  Flemings  bore  the  first  brunt  of  it.  It  was  a  lamentable 
position  for  them  ;  their  industrial  and  commercial  prosperity 
was  being  ruined  ;  their  security  at  home  was  going  from  them  ; 
their  communal  liberties  were  compromised ;  divisions  set  in 
amongst  them  ;  by  interest  and  habitual  intercourse  they  were 
drawn  towards  England,  but  the  count,  their  lord,  did  all  he 
could  to  turn  them  away  from  her,  and  many  amongst  them  were 
loath  to  separate  themselves  entirely  from  France.  "  Burgh- 
ers of  Ghent,  as  they  chatted  in  the  thoroughfares  and  at  the 
cross-roads,  said  one  to  another,  that  they  had  heard  much 
wisdom,  to  their  mind,  from  a  burgher  who  was  called  James 
Van  Artevelde,  and  who  was  a  brewer  of  beer.  They  had 
heard  him  say  that,  if  he  could  obtain  a  hearing  and  credit,  he 
would  in  a  little  while  restore  Flanders  to  good  estate,  and  they 


264  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF  FRANCE.      [Chap.  XX. 

would  recover  all  their  gains  without  standing  ill  with  the  King 
of  France  or  the  King  of  England.  These  sayings  began  to 
get  spread  abroad,  insomuch  that  a  quarter  or  half  the  city  was 
informed  thereof,  especially  the  small  folks  of  the  commonalty, 
whom  the  evil  touched  most  nearly.  They  began  to  assemble 
in  the  streets,  and  it  came  to  pass  that  one  day,  after  dinner, 
several  went  from  house  to  house  calling  for  their  comrades, 
and  saying,  '  Come  and  hear  the  wise  man's  counsel.'  On  the 
26th  of  December,  1337,  they  came  to  the  house  of  the  said 
James  Van  Artevelde,  and  found  him  leaning  against  his  door. 
Far  off  as  they  were  when  they  first  perceived  him,  they  made 
him  a  deep  obeisance,  and  '  Dear  sir,'  they  said,  '  we  are  come 
to  you  for  counsel ;  for  we  are  told  that  by  your  great  and  good 
sense  j'ou  will  restore  the  country  of  Flanders  to  good  case. 
So  tell  us  how.'  Then  James  Van  Artevelde  came  forward, 
and  said,  '  Sirs  comrades,  I  am  a  native  and  burgher  of  this 
city,  and  here  I  have  my  means.  Know  that  I  would  gladly 
aid  you  with  all  my  power,  you  and  all  the  country ;  if  there 
were  here  a  man  who  would  be  willing  to  take  the  lead,  I  would 
be  willing  to  risk  body  and  means  at  his  side  ;  and  if  the  rest 
of  ye  be  willing  to  be  brethren,  friends  and  comrades  to  me, 
to  abide  in  all  matters  at  my  side,  notwithstanding  that  I  am 
not  worthy  of  it,  I  will  undertake  it  willingly.'  Then  said  all 
with  one  voice,  4  We  promise  you  faithfully  to  abide  at  your 
side  in  all  matters  and  to  therewith  adventure  body  and  means, 
for  we  know  well  that  in  the  whole  countship  of  Flanders  there 
is  not  a  man  but  you  worthy  so  to  do.'  '  Then  Van  Artevelde 
bound  them  to  assemble  on  the  next  day  but  one  in  the  grounds 
of  the  monastery  of  Biloke,  which  had  received  numerous 
benefits  from  the  ancestors  of  Sohier  of  Courtrai,  whose  son- 
in-law  Van  Artevelde  was. 

This  bold  burgher  of  Ghent,  who  was  born  about  1285,  was 
sprung  from  a  family  the  name  of  which  had  been  for  a  long 
while  inscribed  in  their  city  upon  the  register  of  industrial 
corporations.     His  father,  John  Van  Artevelde,  a  cloth-worker, 


VAN  ARTEVELDE  AT  HIS  DOOR. —Page 


Chap.  XX.]         THE   HUNDRED   YEARS'   WAR.  265 

had  been  several  times  over  sheriff  of  Ghent,  and  his  mother, 
Mary  Van  Groete,  was  great  aunt  to  the  grandfather  of  the 
illustrious    publicist    called    in    history    Grotius.      James  Van 
Artevelde  in  his  youth  accompanied  Count  Charles  of  Valois, 
brother  of  Philip  the  Handsome,  upon  his  adventurous  expedi- 
tions in  Italy,  Sicily,  and  Greece,  and  to  the  Island  of  Rhodes ; 
and  it  had  been  close  by  the  spots  where  the  soldiers  of  Mara- 
thon and  Salamis  had  beaten  the  armies  of  Darius  and  Xerxes 
that  he  had  heard  of  the  victory  of  the  Flemish  burghers  and 
workmen  attacked  in  1302,  at  Courtrai,  by  the  splendid  army 
of  Philip  the  Handsome.     James  Van  Artevelde,  on  returning 
to  his  country,  had  been  busy  with  his  manufactures,  his  fields, 
the  education  of  his  children,  and  Flemish  affairs  up  to  the  day 
when,    at   his  invitation,    the   burghers   of  Ghent  thronged  to 
the  meeting  on  the  28th  of  December,  133T,  in  the  grounds  of 
the   monastery  of  Biloke.      There   he   delivered   an   eloquent 
speech,  pointing  out,  unhesitatingly  but  temperately,  the  policy 
which  he  considered  good  for  the  country.     "  Forget  not,"  he 
said,  "the  might  and  the  glory  of  Flanders.     Who,  pray,  shall 
forbid  that  we  defend  our  interests  by  using  our  rights  ?     Can 
the  King  of  France  prevent  us  from  treating  with  the  King  of 
England  ?     And  may  we  not  be  certain  that  if  we  were  to  treat 
with  the  King  of  England,  the  King  of  France  would  not  be 
the  less  urgent  in  seeking  our  alliance  ?     Besides,  have  we  not 
with  us  all  the  communes  of  Brabant,  of  Hainault,  of  Holland, 
and   of  Zealand?"     The  audience   cheered  these   words;   the 
commune  of  Ghent   forthwith   assembled,    and   on   the   3d  of 
January,  1337  [according  to  the  old  style,  which  made  the  year 
begin  at  the  25th  of  March],  re-established  the  offices  of  cap- 
tains of  parishes  according  to  olden  usage,  when  the  city  was 
exposed  to  any  pressing  danger.     It  was   carried  that  one  of 
these  captains  should  have  the  chief  government  of  the  city ; 
and  James  Van  Artevelde  was  at  once  invested  with  it.     From 
that  moment  the  conduct  of  Van  Artevelde  was  ruled  by  one 
predominant  idea :  to   secure   free   and  fair   commercial  inter- 
vol.  n.  34 


266  POPULAR   HISTORY  OF  FRANCE.      [Chap.  XX. 

course  for  Flanders  with  England,  whilst  observing  a  general 
neutrality  in  the  war  between  the  Kings  of  England  and  France, 
and  to  combine  so  far  all  the  communes  of  Flanders  in  one  and 
the  same  policy.  And  he  succeeded  in  this  twofold  purpose. 
"  On  the  29th  of  April,  1338,  the  representatives  of  all  the 
communes  of  Flanders  (the  city  of  Bruges  numbering  amongst 
them  a  hundred  and  eight  deputies)  repaired  to  the  castle  of 
Male,  a  residence  of  Count  Louis,  and  then  James  Van  Artevelde 
set  before  the  count  what  had  been  resolved  upon  amongst 
them.  The  count  submitted,  and  swore  that  he  would  thence- 
forth maintain  the  liberties  of  Flanders  in  the  state  in  which 
they  had  existed  since  the  treaty  of  Athies.  In  the  month  of 
May  following  a  deputation,  consisting  of  James  Van  Artevelde 
and  other  burghers  appointed  by  the  cities  of  Ghent,  Bruges, 
and  Ypres  scoured  the  whole  of  Flanders,  from  Bailleul  to 
Termonde,  and  from  Ninove  to  Dunkerque,  "  to  reconcile  the 
good  folks  of  the  communes  to  the  Count  of  Flanders,  as  well 
for  the  count's  honor  as  for  the  peace  of  the  country."  Lastly, 
on  the  10th  of  June,  1338,  a  treaty  was  signed  at  Anvers  be- 
tween the  deputies  of  the  Flemish  communes  and  the  English 
ambassadors,  the  latter  declaring :  "  We  do  all  to  wit  that  we 
have  negotiated  way  and  substance  of  friendship  with  the  good 
folks  of  the  communes  of  Flanders,  in  form  and  manner  herein- 
after following :  — 

"  First,  they  shall  be  able  to  go  and  buy  the  wools  and 
other  merchandise  which  have  been  exported  from  England  to 
Holland,  Zealand,  or  any  other  place  whatsoever  ;  and  all  traders 
of  Flanders  who  shall  repair  to  the  ports  of  England  shall  there 
be  safe  and  free  in  their  persons  and  their  goods,  just  as  in  any 
other  place  where  their  ventures  might  bring  them  together. 

"  Item,  we  have  agreed  with  the  good  folks  and  with  all  the 
common  country  of  Flanders  that  they  must  not  mix  nor  inter- 
meddle in  any  way,  by  assistance  of  men  or  arms,  in  the  wars 
of  our  lord  the  king  and  the  noble  Sir  Philip  of  Valois  (who 
holdeth  himself  for  King  of  France)." 


Chap.  XX.]  THE   HUNDRED   YEARS'   WAR.  267 

Three  articles  following  regulated  in  detail  the  principles  laid 
down  in  the  first  two,  and,  by  another  charter,  Edward  III. 
ordained  that  "  all  stuffs  marked  with  the  seal  of  the  city  of 
Ghent  might  travel  freely  in  England  without  being  subject 
according  to  ellage  and  quality  to  the  control  to  which  all 
foreign  merchandise  was  subject."  (Histoire  de  Flandre,  by  M. 
le  Baron  Kerwyn  de  Lettenhove,  t.  iii.  pp.  199-203.) 

Van  Artevelde  was  right  in  telling  the  Flemings  that,  if  they 
treated  with  the  King  of  England,  the  King  of  France  would 
be  only  the  more  anxious  for  their  alliance.  Philip  of  Valois, 
and  even  Count  Louis  of  Flanders,  when  they  got  to  know  of 
the  negotiations  entered  into  between  the  Flemish  communes 
and  King  Edward,  redoubled  their  offers  and  promises  to  them. 
But  when  the  passions  of  men  have  taken  full  possession  of 
their  souls,  words  of  concession  and  attempts  at  accommoda- 
tion are  nothing  more  than  postponements  or  lies.  Philip, 
when  he  heard  about  the  conclusion  of  a  treaty  between  the 
Flemish  communes  and  the  King  of  England,  sent  word  to 
Count  Louis  "that  this  James  Van  Artevelde  must  not,  on 
any  account,  be  allowed  to  rule,  or  even  live,  for,  if  it  were  so 
for  long,  the  count  would  lose  his  land."  The  count,  very 
much  disposed  to  accept  such  advice,  repaired  to  Ghent  and 
sent  for  Van  Artevelde  to  come  and  see  him  at  his  hotel.  He 
went,  but  with  so  large  a  following  that  the  count  was  not  at 
the  time  at  all  in  a  position  to  resist  him.  He  tried  to  persuade 
the  Flemish  burgher  that  "if  he  would  keep  a  hand  on  the 
people  so  as  to  keep  them  to  their  love  for  the  King  of  France, 
he  having  more  authority  than  any  one  else  for  such  a  purpose, 
much  good  would  result  to  him :  mingling,  besides,  with  this 
address,  some  words  of  threatening  import."  Van  Artevelde, 
who  was  not  the  least  afraid  of  the  threat,  and  who  at  heart 
was  fond  of  the  English,  told  the  count  that  he  would  do  as  he 
had  promised  the  communes.  "  Hereupon  he  left  the  count, 
who  consulted  his  confidants  as  to  what  he  was  to  do  in  this 
business,  and  they  counselled  him  to  let  them  go  and  assemble 


268  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.      [Chap.  XX. 

their  people,  saying  that  they  would  kill  Van  Artevelde 
secretly  or  otherwise.  And  indeed,  they  did  lay  many  traps 
and  made  many  attempts  against  the  captain  ;  but  it  was  of 
no  avail,  since  all  the  commonalty  was  for  him."  When  the 
rumor  of  these  projects  and  these  attempts  was  spread  abroad 
in  the  city,  the  excitement  was  extreme,  and  all  the  burghers 
assumed  white  hoods,  which  was  the  mark  peculiar  to  the 
members  of  the  commune  when  they  assembled  under  their 
flags ;  so  that  the  count  found  himself  reduced  to  assuming  one, 
for  he  was  afraid  of  being  kept  captive  at  Ghent,  and,  on  the 
pretext  of  a  hunting  party,  he  lost  no  time  in  gaining  his 
castle  of  Male. 

The  burghers  of  Ghent  had  their  minds  still  filled  with 
their  late  alarm  when  they  heard  that,  by  order,  it  was  said, 
of  the  King  of  France,  Count  Louis  had  sent  and  beheaded 
at  the  castle  of  Rupelmonde,  in  the  very  bed  in  which  he  was 
confined  by  his  infirmities,  their  fellow-citizen  Sohier  of  Cour- 
trai,  Van  Artevelde's  father-in-law,  who  had  been  kept  for 
many  months  in  prison  for  his  intimacy  with  the  English.  On 
the  same  clay  the  Bishop  of  Senlis  and  the  Abbot  of  St.  Denis 
had  arrived  at  Tournay,  and  had  superintended  the  reading  out 
in  the  market-place  of  a  sentence  of  excommunication  against 
the  Ghentese. 

It  was  probably  at  this  date  that  Van  Artevelde,  in  his  vexa- 
tion and  disquietude,  assumed  in  Ghent  an  attitude  threatening 
and  despotic  even  to  tyranny.  "  He  had  continually  after 
him,"  says  Froissart,  "  sixty  or  eighty  armed  varlets,  amongst 
whom  were  two  or  three  who  knew  some  of  his  secrets.  When 
he  met  a  man  whom  he  had  hated  or  had  in  suspicion,  this 
man  was  at  once  killed,  for  Van  Artevelde  had  given  this  order 
to  his  varlets  :  '  The  moment  I  meet  a  man,  and  make  such 
and  such  a  sign  to  you,  slay  him  without  delay,  however  great 
he  may  be,  without  waiting  for  more  speech.'  In  this  way  he 
had  many  great  masters  slain.  And  as  soon  as  these  sixty 
varlets  had  taken  him  home  to  his  hotel,  each  went  to  dinner 


Chap.  XX.]         THE   HUNDRED   YEARS'   WAR.  269 

at  his  own  house  ;  and  the  moment  dinner  was  over  they  re- 
turned and  stood  before  his  hotel,  and  waited  in  the  street 
until  that  he  was  minded  to  go  and  play  and  take  his  pastime 
in  the  city,  and  so  they  attended  him  till  supper-time.  And 
know  that  each  of  these  hirelings  had  per  diem  four  groschen 
of  Flanders  for  their  expenses  and  wages,  and  he  had  them 
regularly  paid  from  week  to  week.  .  .  .  And  even  in  the  case 
of  all  that  were  most  powerful  in  Flanders,  knights,  esquires, 
and  burghers  of  the  good  cities,  whom  he  believed  to  be  favora- 
ble to  the  Count  of  Flanders,  them  he  banished  from  Flanders, 
and  levied  half  their  revenues.  He  had  levies  made  of  rents, 
of  dues  on  merchandise,  and  all  the  revenues  belonging  to  the 
count,  wherever  it  might  be  in  Flanders,  and  he  disbursed  them 
at  his  will,  and  gave  them  away  without  rendering  any 
account.  .  .  .  And  when  he  would  borrow  of  any  burghers 
on  his  word  for  payment,  there  was  none  that  durst  say  him 
nay.  In  short,  there  was  never  in  Flanders,  or  in  any  other 
country,  duke,  count,  prince,  or  other,  who  can  have  had  a 
country  at  his  will  as  James  Van  Artevelde  had  for  a  long 
time." 

It  is  possible  that,  as  some  historians  have  thought,  Frois- 
sart,  being  less  favorable  to  burghers  than  to  princes,  did 
not  deny  himself  a  little  exaggeration  in  this  portrait  of  a 
great  burgher-patriot  transformed  by  the  force  of  events  ancL 
passions  into  a  demagogic  tyrant.  But  some  of  us  may  have 
too  vivid  a  personal  recollection  of  similar  scenes  to  doubt 
the  general  truth  of  the  picture  ;  and  we  shall  meet  before  long 
in  the  history  of  France  during  the  fourteenth  century  with  an 
example  still  more  striking  and  more  famous  than  that  of  Van 
Artevelde. 

Whilst  the  Count  of  Flanders,  after  having  vainly  attempted 
to  excite  an  uprising  against  Van  Artevelde,  was  being  forced, 
in  order  to  escape  from  the  people  of  Bruges,  to  mount  his 
horse  in  hot  haste,  at  night  and  barely  armed,  and  to  flee  away 
to  St.  Omer,  Philip  of  Valois  and  Edward  III.  were  preparing, 


270  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.      [Chap.  XX. 

on  either  side,  for  the  war  which  they  could  see  drawing  near. 
Philip  was  vigorously  at  work  on  the  pope,  the  Emperor  of 
Germany,  and  the  princes  neighbors  of  Flanders,  in  order  to 
raise  obstacles  against  his  rival  or  rob  him  of  his  allies.  He 
ordered  that  short-lived  meeting  of  the  states-general  about 
which  we  have  no  information  left  us,  save  that  it  voted  the 
principle  that  "  no  talliage  could  be  imposed  on  the  people  if 
urgent  necessity  or  evident  utility  should  not  require  it,  and 
unless  by  concession  of  the  Estates."  Philip,  as  chief  of  feudal 
society,  rather  than  of  the  nation  which  was  forming  itself 
little  by  little  around  the  lords,  convoked  at  Amiens  all  his 
vassals,  great  and  small,  laic  or  cleric,  placing  all  his  strength  in 
their  co-operation,  and  not  caring  at  all  to  associate  the  country 
itself  in  the  affairs  of  his  government.  Edward,  on  the 
contrary,  whilst  equipping  his  fleet  and  amassing  treasure  at 
the  expense  of  the  Jews  and  Lombard  usurers,  was  assembling 
his  Parliament,  talking  to  it  "  of  this  important  and  costly 
war,"  for  which  he  obtained  large  subsidies,  and  accepting 
without  making  any  difficulty  the  vote  of  the  Commons'  House, 
which  expressed  a  desire  "  to  consult  their  constituents  upon 
this  subject,  and  begged  him  to  summon  an  early  Parliament, 
to  which  there  should  be  elected,  in  each  county,  two  knights 
taken  from  among  the  best  land-owners  of  their  counties."  The 
king  set  out  for  the  Continent ;  the  Parliament  met  and  con- 
sidered the  exigencies  of  the  war  by  land  and  sea,  in  Scotland 
and  in  France ;  traders,  ship-owners,  and  mariners  were  called 
and  examined  ;  and  the  forces  determined  to  be  necessary  were 
voted.  Edward  took  the  field,  pillaging,  burning,  and  ravaging, 
"  destroying  all  the  country  for  twelve  or  fourteen  leagues  in 
extent,"  as  he  himself  said  in  a  letter  to  the  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury.  When  he  set  foot  on  French  territory,  Count 
William  of  Hainault,  his  brother-in-law,  and  up  to  that  time 
his  ally,  came  to  him  and  said  that  "he  would  ride  with  him 
no  farther,  for  that  his  presence  was  prayed  and  required  by 
his  uncle,  the  King  of  France,  to  whom  he  bore  no  hate,  and 


Chap.  XX.]         THE   HUNDRED   YEARS'   WAR.  271 

whom  he  would  go  and  serve  in.  his  own  kingdom,  as  he  had 
served  King  Edward  on  the  territory  of  the  emperor,  whose 
vicar  he  was ;  "  and  Edward  wished  him  "  God  speed  !  "  Such 
was  the  binding  nature  of  feudal  ties  that  the  same  lord  held 
himself  bound  to  pass  from  one  camp  to  another,  according  as 
he  found  himself  upon  the  domains  of  one  or  the  other  of  his 
suzerains  in  a  war  one  against  the  other.  Edward  continued 
his  march  towards  St.  Quentin,  where  Philip  had  at  last  arrived 
with  his  allies,  the  Kings  of  Bohemia,  Navarre,  and  Scotland, 
"  after  delays  which  had  given  rise  to  great  scandal  and  mur- 
murs throughout  the  whole  kingdom."  The  two  armies,  with 
a  strength,  according  to  Froissart,  of  a  hundred  thousand  men  on 
the  French  side,  and  forty-four  thousand  on  the  English,  were 
soon  facing  one  another,  near  Buironfosse,  a  large  burgh  of 
Picardy.  A  herald  came  from  the  English  camp  to  tell  the 
King  of  France  that  the  King  of  England  "  demanded  of 
him  battle.  To  which  demand,"  says  Froissart,  "  the  King 
of  France  gave  willing  assent,  and  accepted  the  day,  which 
was  fixed  at  first  for  Thursday  the  21st,  and  afterwards  for 
Saturday  the  25th  of  October,  1339."  To  judge  from  the 
somewhat  tangled  accounts  of  the  chroniclers  and  of  Froissart 
himself,  neither  of  the  two  kings  was  very  anxious  to  come 
to  blows.  The  forces  of  Edward  were  much  inferior  to  those 
of  Philip  ;  and  the  former  had  accordingly  taken  up,  as  it 
appears,  a  position  which  rendered  attack  difficult  for  Philip. 
There  was  much  division  of  opinion  in  the  French  camp. 
Independently  of  military  grounds,  a  great  deal  was  said  about 
certain  letters  from  Robert,  King  of  Naples,  "  a  mighty  nec- 
romancer and  full  of  mighty  wisdom,  it  was  reported,  who, 
after  having  several  times  cast  their  horoscopes,  had  discovered 
by  astrology  and  from  experience,  that,  if  his  cousin,  the  King 
of  France,  were  to  fight  the  King  of  England,  the  former 
would  be  worsted."  "  In  thus  disputing  and  debating,"  says 
Froissart,  "  the  time  passed  till  full  midday.  A  little  after- 
wards   a    hare    came    leaping    across    the    fields,    and   rushed 


272  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.     [Chap.  XX. 

amongst  the  French.  Those  who  saw  it  began  shouting  and 
making  a  great  halloo.  Those  who  were  behind  thought  that 
those  who  were  in  front  were  engaging  in  battle ;  and  several 
put  on  their  helmets  and  gripped  their  swords.  Thereupon  sev- 
eral knights  were  made ;  and  the  Count  of  Hainault  himself 
made  fourteen,  who  were  thenceforth  nicknamed  Knights  of  the 
Hare."  Whatever  his  motive  may  have  been,  Philip  did  not 
attack ;  and  Edward  promptly  began  a  retreat.  They  both  dis- 
missed their  allies;  and  during  the  early  days  of  November, 
Philip  fell  back  upon  St.  Quentin,  and  Edward  went  and  took 
up  his  winter  quarters  at  Brussels. 

For  Edward  it  was  a  serious  check  not  to  have  dared  to  attack 
the  king  whose  kingdom  he  made  a  pretence  of  conquering; 
and  he  took  it  grievously  to  heart.  At  Brussels  he  had  an  in- 
terview with  his  allies,  and  asked  their  counsel.  Most  of  the 
princes  of  the  Low  Countries  remained  faithful  to  him,  and  the 
Count  of  Hainault  seemed  inclined  to  go  back  to  him  ;  but  all 
hesitated  as  to  what  he  was  to  do  to  recover  from  the  check. 
Van  Artevelde  showed  more  invention  and  more  boldness.  The 
Flemish  communes  had  concentrated  their  forces  not  far  from 
the  spot  where  the  two  kings  had  kept  their  armies  looking  at 
one  another :  but  they  had  maintained  a  strict  neutrality,  and  at 
the  invitation  of  the  Count  of  Flanders,  who  promised  them 
that  the  King  of  France  would  entertain  all  their  claims,  Arte- 
velde and  Breydel,  the  deputies  from  Ghent  and  Bruges,  even 
repaired  to  Courtrai  to  make  terms  with  him.  But  as  they  got 
there  nothing  but  ambiguous  engagements  and  evasive  promises, 
they  let  the  negotiation  drop,  and,  whilst  Count  Louis  was  on 
his  way  to  rejoin  Philip  at  St.  Quentin,  Artevelde,  with  the 
deputies  from  the  Flemish  communes,  started  for  Brussels. 
Edward,  who  was  already  living  on  very  confidential  terms  with 
him,  told  him  that  "  if  the  Flemings  were  minded  to  help  him 
to  keep  up  the  war,  and  go  with  him  whithersoever  he  would 
take  them,  they  should  aid  him  to  recover  Lille,  Douai,  and 
Be*thune,  then  occupied  by  the  King  of  France.     Artevelde, 


Chap.  XX.]        THE   HUNDRED   YEARS'   WAR.  273 

after  consulting  his  colleagues,  returned  to  Edward,  and,  *  Dear 
sir,'  said  he,  '  you  have  already  made  such  requests  to  us,  and 
verily  if  we  could  do  so  whilst  keeping  our  honor  and  faith,  we 
would  do  as  you  demand ;  but  we  be  bound,  by  faith  and  oath, 
and  on  a  bond  of  two  millions  of  florins  entered  into  with  the 
pope,  not  to  go  to  war  with  the  King  of  France  without  incur- 
ring a  debt  to  the  amount  of  that  sum,  and  a  sentence  of  ex- 
communication ;  but  if  you  do  that  which  we  are  about  to  say 
to  you,  if  you  will  be  pleased  to  adopt  the  arms  of  France,  and 
quarter  them  with  those  of  England,  and  openly  call  yourself 
King  of  France,  we  will  uphold  you  for  true  King  of  France ; 
you,  as  King  of  France,  shall  give  us  quittance  of  our  faith; 
and  then  we  will  obey  you  as  King  of  France,  and  will  go 
whithersoever  you  shall  ordain.'  " 

This  prospect  pleased  Edward  mightily:  but  "it  irked  him  to 
take  the  name  and  arms  of  that  of  which  he  had  as  yet  won  no 
tittle."  He  consulted  his  allies.  Some  of  them  hesitated ;  but 
"his  most  privy  and  especial  friend,"  Robert  d'Artois,  strongly 
urged  him  to  consent  to  the  proposal.  So  a  French  prince  and 
a  Flemish  burgher  prevailed  upon  the  King  of  England  to  pur- 
sue, as  in  assertion  of  his  avowed  rights,  the  conquest  of  the 
kingdom  of  France.  King,  prince,  and  burgher  fixed  Ghent  as 
their  place  of  meeting  for  the  official  conclusion  of  the  alliance ; 
and  there,  in  January,  1340,  the  mutual  engagement  was  signed 
and  sealed.  The  King  of  England  "  assumed  the  arms  of 
France  quartered  with  those  of  England,"  and  thenceforth  took 
the  title  of  King  of  France. 

Then  burst  forth  in  reality  that  war  which  was  to  last  a  hun- 
dred years ;  which  was  to  bring  upon  the  two  nations  the  most 
violent  struggles,  as  well  as  the  most  cruel  sufferings,  and  which, 
at  the  end  of  a  hundred  years,  was  to  end  in  the  salvation  of 
France  from  her  tremendous  peril,  and  the  defeat  of  England  in 
her  unrighteous  attempt.  In  January,  1340,  Edward  thought 
he  had  won  the  most  useful  of  allies ;  Artevelde  thought  the 
independence  of  the  Flemish  communes  and  his  own  supremacy 

VOL.  H.  35 


274  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.     [Chap.  XX. 

in  his  own  country  secured ;  and  Robert  d' Artois  thought  with 
complacency  how  he  had  gratified  his  hatred  for  Philip  of  Valois. 
And  all  three  were  deceiving  themselves  in  their  joy  and  their 
confidence. 

Edward,  leaving  Queen  Philippa  at  Ghent  with  Artevelde  for 
her  adviser,  had  returned  to  England,  and  had  just  obtained 
from  the  Parliament,  for  the  purpose  of  vigorously  pushing  on 
the  war,  a  subsidy  almost  without  precedent,  when  he  heard 
that  a  large  French  fleet  was  assembling  on  the  coasts  of  Zea- 
land, near  the  port  of  Ecluse  (or  Sluys),  with  a  design  of  sur- 
prising and  attacking  him  when  he  should  cross  over  again  to  the 
Continent.  For  some  time  past  this  fleet  had  been  cruising  in 
the  Channel,  making  descents  here  and  there  upon  English  soil, 
at  Plymouth,  Southampton,  Sandwich,  and  Dover,  and  every- 
where causing  alarm  and  pillage.  Its  strength,  they  said,  was  a 
hundred  and  forty  large  vessels,  "without  counting  the  smaller," 
having  on  board  thirty-five  thousand  men,  Normans,  Picards, 
Italians,  sailors  and  soldiers  of  all  countries,  under  the  command 
of  two  French  leaders,  Hugh  Quieret,  titular  admiral,  and  Nich- 
olas Behuchet,  King  Philip's  treasurer,  and  of  a  famous  Genoese 
buccaneer,  named  Barbavera.  Edward,  so  soon  as  he  received 
this  information,  resolved  to  go  and  meet  their  attack ;  and  he 
gave  orders  to  have  his  vessels  and  troops  summoned  from  all 
parts  of  England  to  Orewell,  his  point  of  departure.  His  ad- 
visers, with  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  at  their  head,  strove, 
but  in  vain,  to  restrain  him.  "  Ye  are  all  in  conspiracy  against 
me,"  said  he ;  "I  shall  go ;  and  those  who  are  afraid  can  abide 
at  home."  And  go  he  did  on  the  22d  of  June,  1340,  and  aboard 
of  his  fleet  "  went  with  him  many  an  English  dame,"  says  Frois- 
sart,  "  wives  of  earls,  and  barons,  and  knights,  and  burghers,  of 
London,  who  were  off  to  Ghent  to  see  the  Queen  of  England, 
whom  for  a  long  time  past  they  had  not  seen ;  and  King  Edward 
guarded  them  carefully."  "  For  many  a  long  day,"  said  he, 
"  have  I  desired  to  fight  those  fellows,  and  now  we  will  fight 
them,  please  God  and  St.  George ;  for,  verily,  they  have  caused 


Chap.  XX.]         THE   HUNDRED  YEARS'   WAR.  275 

me  so  many  displeasures,  that  I  would  fain  take  vengeance  for 
them,  if  I  can  but  get  it."  On  arriving  off  the  coast  of  Flan- 
ders, opposite  Ecluse  (or  Sluys),  he  saw  "  so  great  a  number  of 
vessels  that  of  masts  there  seemed  to  be  verily  a  forest."  He 
made  his  arrangements  forthwith,  "placing  his  strongest  ships  in 
front,  and  manoeuvring  so  as  to  have  the  wind  on  the  starboard 
quarter,  and  the  sun  astern.  The  Normans  marvelled  to  see  the 
English  thus  twisting  about,  and  said,  4  They  are  turning  tail ; 
they  are  not  men  enough  to  fight  us.' '  But  the  Genoese  buc- 
caneer was  not  misled.  "When  he  saw  the  English  fleet  ap- 
proaching in  such  fashion,  he  said  to  the  French  admiral  and  his 
colleague,  Behuchet,  '  Sirs,  here  is  the  King  of  England,  with 
all  his  ships,  bearing  down  upon  us  :  if  ye  will  follow  my  advice, 
instead  of  remaining  shut  up  in  port,  ye  will  draw  out  into  the 
open  sea ;  for,  if  ye  abide  here,  they,  whilst  they  have  in  their 
favor  sun,  and  wind,  and  tide,  will  keep  you  so  short  of  room, 
that  ye  will  be  helpless  and  unable  to  manoeuvre.'  Whereupon 
answered  the  treasurer,  Behuchet,  who  knew  more  about  arith- 
metic than  sea  rights,  4  Let  him  go  hang,  whoever  shall  go  out : 
here  will  we  wait,  and  take  our  chance.'  4  Sir,'  replied  Barba- 
vera,  i  if  ye  will  not  be  pleased  to  believe  me,  I  have  no  mind 
to  work  my  own  ruin,  and  I  will  get  me  gone  with  my  galleys 
out  of  this  hole.' "  And  out  he  went,  with  all  his  squadron, 
engaged  the  English  on  the  high  seas,  and  took  the  first  ship 
which  attempted  to  board  him.  But  Edward,  though  he  was 
wounded  in  the  thigh,  quickly  restored  the  battle.  After  a  gal- 
lant resistance,  Barbavera  sailed  off  with  his  galleys,  and  the 
French  fleet  found  itself  alone  at  grips  with  the  English.  The 
struggle  was  obstinate  on  both  sides ;  it  began  at  six  in  the 
morning  of  June  24,  1340,  and  lasted  to  midday.  It  was  put  an 
end  to  by  the  arrival  of  the  re-enforcements  promised  by  the 
Flemings  to  the  King  of  England.  "  The  deputies  of  Bruges," 
says  their  historian,  "  had  employed  the  whole  night  in  getting 
under  way  an  armament  of  two  hundred  vessels,  and,  before 
long,  the  French  heard  echoing  about  them  the  horns  of  the 


276  POPULAR  HISTORY  OF  FRANCE.      [Chap.  XX. 

Flemish  mariners  sounding  to  quarters."  These  latter  decided 
the  victory ,  Behuchet,  Philip  of  Valois'  treasurer,  fell  into  their 
hands ;  and  they,  heeding  only  their  desire  of  avenging  them- 
selves for  the  devastation  of  Cadsand  (in  1337),  hanged  him 
from  the  mast  of  his  vessel  "  out  of  spite  to  the  King  of  France." 
The  admiral,  Hugh  Quieret,  though  he  surrendered,  was  put  to 
death ;  "  and  with  him  perished  so  great  a  number  of  men-at- 
arms  that  the  sea  was  dyed  with  blood  on  this  coast,  and  the 
dead  were  put  down  at  quite  thirty  thousand  men." 

The  very  day  after  the  battle,  the  Queen  of  England  came 
from  Ghent  to  join  the  king  her  husband,  whom  his  wound  con- 
fined to  his  ship ;  and  at  Valenciennes,  whither  the  news  of  the 
victory  speedily  arrived,  Artevelde,  mounting  a  platform  set  up 
in  the  market-place,  maintained,  in  the  presence  of  a  large 
crowd,  the  right  which  the  King  of  England  had  to  claim  the 
kingdom  of  France.  He  vaunted  "  the  puissance  of  the  three 
countries,  Flanders,  Hainault,  and  Brabant,  when  at  one  accord 
amongst  themselves,  and  what  with  his  words  and  his  great 
sense,"  says  Froissart,  "  he  did  so  well  that  all  who  heard  him 
said  that  he  had  spoken  mighty  well,  and  with  mighty  experi- 
ence, and  that  he  was  right  worthy  to  govern  the  countship  of 
Flanders."  From  Valenciennes  he  repaired  to  King  Edward  at 
Bruges,  where  all  the  allied  princes  were  assembled ;  and  there, 
in  concert  with  the  other  deputies  from  the  Flemish  communes, 
Artevelde  offered  Edward  a  hundred  thousand  men  for  the  vig- 
orous prosecution  of  the  war.  "  All  these  burghers,"  says  the 
modern  historian  of  the  Flemings,  "  had  declared  that,  in  order 
to  promote  their  country's  cause,  they  would  serve  without  pay, 
so  heartily  had  they  entered  into  the  war."  The  siege  of  Tour- 
nay  was  the  first  operation  Edward  resolved  to  undertake.  He 
had  promised  to  give  this  place  to  the  Flemings ;  the  burghers 
were  getting  a  taste  for  conquest,  in  company  with  kings. 

They  found  Philip  of  Valois  better  informed,  and  also  more 
hot  for  war,  than  perhaps  they  had  expected.  It  is  said  that  he 
learned  the  defeat  of  his  navy  at  Ecluse  from  his  court  fool,  who 


Chap.  XX.]  THE  HUNDRED   YEARS'   WAR.  277 

was  the  first  to  announce  it,  and  in  the  following  fashion.  "  The 
English  are  cowards,"  said  he.  "Why  so?"  asked  the  king. 
"  Because  they  lacked  courage  to  leap  into  the  sea  at  Ecluse,  as 
the  French  and  Normans  did."  Philip  lost  no  time  about  put- 
ting the  places  on  his  northern  frontier  in  a  state  of  defence ; 
he  took  up  his  quarters  first  at  Arras,  and  then  three  leagues 
from  Tournay,  into  which  his  constable,  Paoul  d'Eu,  immedi- 
ately threw  himself,  with  a  considerable  force,  and  whither  his 
allies,  the  Duke  of  Lorraine,  the  Count  of  Savoy,  the  Bishops 
of  Liege,  Metz,  and  Yerdun,  and  nearly  all  the  barons  of  Bur- 
gundy came  and  joined  him.  On  the  27th  of  July,  1340,  he 
received  there  from  his  rival  a  challenge  of  portentous  length, 
the  principal  terms  of  which  are  set  forth  as  follows :  — 

"  Philip  of  Yalois,  for  a  long  time  past  we  have  taken  pro- 
ceedings, by  means  of  messages  and  other  reasonable  ways,  to 
the  end  that  you  might  restore  to  us  our  rightful  heritage  of 
France,  which  you  have  this  long  while  withheld  from  us  and  do 
most  wrongfully  occupy.  And  as  we  do  clearly  see  that  you 
do  intend  to  persevere  in  your  wrongful  withholding,  we  do 
give  you  notice  that  we  are  marching  against  you  to  bring  our 
rightful  claims  to  an  issue.  And,  whereas  so  great  a  number  of 
folks  assembled  on  our  side  and  on  yours,  cannot  keep  them- 
selves together  for  long  without  causing  great  destruction  to 
the  people  and  the  country,  we  desire,  as  the  quarrel  is  be- 
tween you  and  us,  that  the  decision  of  our  claim  should  be 
between  our  two  bodies.  And  if  you  have  no  mind  to  this  way, 
we  propose  that  our  quarrel  should  end  by  a  battle,  body  to 
body,  between  a  hundred  persons,  the  most  capable  on  your  side 
and  on  ours.  And,  if  you  have  no  mind  either  to  one  way  or 
to  the  other,  that  you  do  appoint  us  a  fixed  day  for  fighting 
before  the  city  of  Tournay,  power  to  power.  Given  under  our 
privy  seal,  on  the  field  near  Tournay,  the  26th  day  of  July,  in 
the  first  year  of  our  reign  in  France  and  in  England  the  four- 
teenth." 

Philip  replied,  "  Philip,  by  the  grace  of  God  King  of  France, 


278  POPULAR   HISTORY    OF  FRANCE.      [Chap.  XX. 

to  Edward,  King  of  England.  We  have  seen  your  letters 
brought  to  our  court,  as  from  you  to  Philip  of  Valois,  and  con- 
taining certain  demands  which  you  make  upon  the  said  Philip 
of  Valois.  And,  as  the  said  letters  did  not  come  to  ourself,  we 
make  you  no  answer.  Our  intention  is,  when  it  shall  seem  good 
to  us,  to  hurl  you  out  of  our  kingdom  for  the  benefit  of  our 
people.  And  of  that  we  have  firm  hope  in  Jesus  Christ,  from 
whom  all  power  cometh  to  us." 

Events  were  not  satisfactory  either  to  the  haughty  pretensions 
of  Edward  or  to  the  patriotic  hopes  of  Philip.  The  war  contin- 
ued in  the  north  and  south-west  of  France  without  any  result. 
In  the  neighborhood  of  Tournay  some  encounters  in  the  open 
country  were  unfavorable  to  the  English  and  their  allies ;  the 
siege  of  the  place  was  prolonged  for  seventy-four  days  without 
the  attainment  of  an}^  success  by  assault  or  investment ;  and  the 
inhabitants  defended  themselves  with  so  obstinate  a  courage, 
that,  when  at  length  the  King  of  England  found  himself  obliged 
to  raise  the  siege,  Philip,  to  testify  his  gratitude  towards  them, 
restored  them  their  law,  that  is,  their  communal  charter,  for 
some  time  past  withdrawn,  and  "  they  were  greatly  rejoiced," 
says  Froissart,  "at  having  no  more  royal  governors,  and  at  ap- 
pointing provosts  and  jurymen  according  to  their  fancy."  The 
Flemish  burghers,  in  spite  of  their  display  of  warlike  zeal,  soon 
grew  tired  of  being  so  far  from  their  business  and  of  living 
under  canvas.  In  Aquitaine  the  lieutenants  of  the  King  of 
France  had  the  advantage  over  those  of  the  King  of  England  ; 
they  re-took  or  delivered  several  places  in  dispute  between  the 
two  crowns,  and  they  closely  pressed  Bordeaux  itself  both  by 
land  and  sea.  Edward,  the  aggressor,  was  exhausting  his  pecu- 
niary resources,  and  his  Parliament  was  displaying  but  little 
inclination  to  replenish  them.  For  Philip,  who  had  merely  to 
defend  himself  in  his  own  dominions,  any  cessation  of  hostilities 
was  almost  a  victory.  A  pious  princess,  Joan  of  Valois,  sister 
of  Philip  and  mother-in-law  of  Edward,  issued  from  her  con- 
vent at  Fontenelle,  for  the  purpose  of  urging  the  two  kings  to 


Chap.  XX.]         THE   HUNDRED   YEARS'   WAR.  279 

make  peace,  or  at  least  to  suspend  hostilities.  "  The  good 
dame,"  says  Froissart,  "  saw  there,  on  the  two  sides,  all  the 
flower  and  honor  of  the  chivalry  of  the  world ;  and  many  a 
time  she  had  fallen  at  the  feet  of  her  brother,  the  King  of 
France,  praying  him  for  some  respite  or  treaty  of  agreement 
between  himself  and  the  English  king.  And  when  she  had 
labored  with  them  of  France,  she  went  her  way  to  them  of  the 
Empire,  to  the  Duke  of  Brabant,  to  the  Marquis  of  Juliers,  and 
to  my  Lord  John  of  Hainault,  and  prayed  them,  for  God's  and 
pity's  sake,  that  they  would  be  pleased  to  hearken  to  some 
terms  of  accord,  and  would  win  over  the  King  of  England  to 
be  pleased  to  condescend  thereto."  In  concert  with  the  envoys 
of  Pope  Benedict  XII.,  Joan  of  Valois  at  last  succeeded  in  bring- 
ing the  two  sovereigns  and  their  allies  to  a  truce,  which  was 
concluded  on  the  25th  of  September,  1340,  at  first  for  nine 
months,  and  was  afterwards  renewed  on  several  occasions  up 
to  the  month  of  June,  1342.  Neither  sovereign,  and  none  of 
their  allies,  gave  up  anything,  or  bound  themselves  to  anything 
more  than  not  to  fight  during  that  interval ;  but  they  were,  on 
both  sides,  without  the  power  of  carrying  on  without  pause  a 
struggle  which  they  would  not  entirely  abandon. 

An  unexpected  incident  led  to  its  recommencement  in  spite 
of  the  truce :  not,  however,  throughout  France  or  directly 
between  the  two  kings,  but  with  fiery  fierceness,  though  it  was 
limited  to  a  single  province,  and  arose  not  in  the  name  of  the 
kingship  of  France,  but  out  of  a  purely  provincial  question. 
John  III.,  Duke  of  Brittany  and  a  faithful  vassal  of  Philip  of 
Valois,  whom  he  had  gone  to  support  at  Tournay  "  more  stoutly 
and  substantially  than  any  of  the  other  princes,"  says  Froissart, 
died  suddenly  at  Caen,  on  the  30th  of  April,  1341,  on  returning 
to  his  domain.  Though  he  had  been  thrice  married,  he  left  no 
child.  The  duchy  of  Brittany  then  reverted  to  his  brothers  or 
their  posterity  ;  but  his  very  next  brother,  Guy,  Count  of  Pen- 
thievre,  had  been  dead  six  years,  and  had  left  only  a  daughter, 
Joan,  called  the  Cripple,  married  to  Charles  of  Blois,  nephew 


280  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF  FRANCE.      [Chap.  XX. 

of  the  King  of  France.  The  third  brother  was  still  alive  ;  he 
too  was  named  John,  had  from  his  mother  the  title  of  Count 
of  Montfort,  and  claimed  to  be  heir  to  the  duchy  of  Brittany 
in  preference  to  his  niece  Joan.  The  niece,  on  the  contrary, 
believed  in  her  own  right  to  the  exclusion  of  her  uncle.  The 
question  was  exactly  the  same  as  that  which  had  arisen  touch- 
ing the  crown  of  France  when  Philip  the  Long  had  successfully 
disputed  it  with  the  only  daughter  of  his  brother  Louis  the 
Quarreller  ;  but  the  Salic  law,  which  had  for  more  than  three 
centuries  prevailed  in  France,  and  just  lately  to  the,  benefit  of 
Philip  of  Valois,  had  no  existence  in  the  written  code,  or  the 
traditions  of  Brittany.  There,  as  in  several  other  great  fiefs, 
women  had  often  been  recognized  as  capable  of  holding  and 
transmitting  sovereignty.  At  the  death  of  John  III.,  his 
brother,  the  Count  of  Montfort,  immediately  put  himself  in  pos- 
session of  the  inheritance,  seized  the  principal  Breton  towns, 
Nantes,  Brest,  Rennes,  and  Valines,  and  crossed  over  to  England 
to  secure  the  support  of  Edward  III.  His  rival,  Charles  of 
Blois,  appealed  to  the  decision  of  the  King  of  France,  his  uncle 
and  natural  protector.  Philip  of  Valois  thus  found  himself  the 
champion  of  succession  in  the  female  line  in  Brittany,  whilst  he 
was  himself  reigning  in  France  by  virtue  of  the  Salic  law,  and 
Edward  III.  took  up  in  Brittany  the  defence  of  succession  in 
the  male  line  which  he  was  disputing  and  fighting  against  in 
France.  Philip  and  his  court  of  peers  declared  on  the  7th  of 
September,  1341,  that  Brittany  belonged  to  Charles  of  Blois, 
who  at  once  did  homage  for  it  to  the  King  of  France,  whilst 
John  of  Montfort  demanded  and  obtained  the  support  of  the 
King  of  England.  War  broke  out  between  the  two  claimants, 
effectually  supported  by  the  two  kings,  who  nevertheless  were 
not  supposed  to  make  war  upon  one  another  and  in  their  own 
dominions.  The  feudal  system  sometimes  entailed  these  strange 
and  dangerous  complications. 

If  the  two  parties  had  been  reduced  for  leaders  to  the  two 
claimants  only,  the  war  would  not,  perhaps,  have  lasted  long. 


Chap.  XX.]         THE  HUNDRED   YEARS'   WAR.  281 

In  the  first  campaign  the  Count  of  Montfort  was  made  prisoner 
at  the  siege  of  Nantes,  carried  off  to  Paris,  and  shut  up  in  the 
tower  of  the  Louvre,  whence  he  did  not  escape  until  three  years 
were  over.  Charles  of  Blois,  with  all  his  personal  valor,  was  so 
scrupulously  devout  that  he  often  added  to  the  embarrassments 
and  at  the  same  time  the  delays  of  war.  He  never  marched 
without  being  followed  by  his  almoner,  who  took  with  him 
everywhere  bread,  and  wine,  and  water,  and  fire  in  a  pot,  for 
the  purpose  of  saying  mass  by  the  way.  One  day  when  Charles 
was  accordingly  hearing  it  and  was  very  near  the  enemy,  one 
of  his  officers,  Auffroy  de  Montboucher,  said  to  him,  "  Sir,  you 
see  right  well  that  your  enemies  are  yonder,  and  you  halt  a 
longer  time  than  they  need  to  take  you."  "  Auffroy,"  answered 
the  prince,  "  we  shall  always  have  towns  and  castles,  and,  if 
they  are  taken,  we  shall,  with  God's  help,  recover  them  ;  but  if 
we  miss  hearing  of  mass  we  shall  never  recover  it."  Neither 
side,  however,  had  much  detriment  from  either  the  captivity  or 
pious  delays  of  its  chief.  Joan  of  Flanders,  Countess  of  Mont- 
fort, was  at  Rennes  when  she  heard  that  her  husband  had  been 
taken  prisoner  at  Nantes.  "  Although  she  made  great  mourn- 
ing in  her  heart,"  says  Froissart,  "  she  made  it  not  like  a  dis- 
consolate woman,  but  like  a  proud  and  gallant  man.  She 
showed  to  her  friends  and  soldiers  a  little  boy  she  had,  and 
whose  name  was  John,  even  as  his  father's,  and  she  said  to 
them,  « Ah !  sirs,  be  not  discomforted  and  cast  down  because  of 
my  lord  whom  we  have  lost ;  he  was  but  one  man ;  see,  here  is 
my  little  boy,  who,  please  God,  shall  be  his  avenger.  I  have 
wealth  in  abundance,  and  of  it  I  will  give  you  enow,  and  I  will 
provide  you  with  such  a  leader  as  shall  give  you  all  fresh  heart/ 
She  went  through  all  her  good  towns  and  fortresses,  taking  her 
young  son  with  her,  re-enforcing  the  garrisons  with  men  and  all 
they  wanted,  and  giving  away  abundantly  wherever  she  thought 
it  would  be  well  laid  out.  Then  she  went  her  way  to  Henne- 
bon-sur-Mer,  which  was  a  strong  town  and  strong  castle,  and 
there  she  abode,  and  her  son  with  her,  all  the  winter."  In 
vol.  ii.  86 


282  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.      [Chap.  XX. 

May,  1342,  Charles  of  Blois  came  to  besiege  her ;  but  the 
attempts  at  assault  were  not  successful.  "  The  Countess  of 
Montfort,  who  was  cased  in  armor  and  rode  on  a  fine  steed, 
galloped  from  street  to  street  through  the  town,  summoned  the 
people  to  defend  themselves  stoutly,  and  called  on  the  women, 
dames,  damoisels,  and  others,  to  pull  up  the  roads,  and  carry 
the  stones  to  the  ramparts  to  throw  down  on  the  assailants." 
She  attempted  a  bolder  enterprise.  "  She  sometimes  mounted  a 
tower,  right  up  to  the  top,  that  she  might  see  the  better  how 
her  people  bore  themselves.  She  one  day  saw  that  all  they  of 
the  hostile  army,  lords  and  others,  had  left  their  quarters  and 
gone  to  watch  the  assault.  She  mounted  her  steed,  all  armed 
as  she  was,  and  summoned  to  horse  with  her  about  three  hun- 
dred men-at-arms  who  were  on  guard  at  a  gate  which  was  not 
being  assailed.  She  went  out  thereat  with  all  her  company  and 
threw  herself  valiantly  upon  the  tents  and  quarters  of  the  lords 
of  France,  which  were  all  burned,  being  guarded  only  by  boys 
and  varlets,  who  fled  as  soon  as  they  saw  the  countess  and  her 
folks  entering  and  setting  fire.  When  the  lords  saw  their  quar- 
ters burning  and  heard  the  noise  which  came  therefrom,  they  ran 
up  all  dazed  and  crying,  '  Betrayed !  betrayed ! '  so  that  none 
remained  for  the  assault.  When  the  countess  saw  the  enemy's 
host  running  up  from  all  parts,  she  re-assembled  all  her  folks, 
and  seeing  right  well  that  she  could  not  enter  the  town  again 
without  too  great  loss,  she  went  off  by  another  road  to  the  castle 
of  Brest  [or,  more  probably,  d'Auray,  as  Brest  is  much  more 
than  three  leagues  from  Hennebon],  which  lies  as  near  as  three 
leagues  from  thence."  Though  hotly  pursued  by  the  assailants, 
44  she  rode  so  fast  and  so  well  that  she  and  the  greater  part  of 
her  folks  arrived  at  the  castle  of  Brest,  where  she  was  received 
and  feasted  right  joyously.  Those  of  her  folks  who  were  in 
Hennebon  were  all  night  in  great  disquietude  because  neither 
she  nor  any  of  her  company  returned ;  and  the  assailant  lords, 
who  had  taken  up  quarters  nearer  to  the  town,  cried,  '  Come 
out,  come  out,  and  seek  your  countess ;  she  is  lost ;  you  will 


"SEE,   SEE,"   SHE  CRIED.  —  Page  283. 


Chap.  XX.]  THE  HUNDRED   YEARS'   WAR.  283 

not  find  a  bit  of  her.'  In  such  fear  the  folks  in  Hennebon 
remained  five  days.  But  the  countess  wrought  so  well  that  she 
had  now  full  five  hundred  comrades  armed  and  well  mounted  ; 
then  she  set  out  from  Brest  about  midnight  and  came  away, 
arriving  at  sunrise  and  riding  straight  upon  one  of  the  flanks 
of  the  enemy's  host ;  there  she  had  the  gate  of  Hennebon  castle 
opened,  and  entered  in  with  great  joy  and  a  great  noise  of  trum- 
pets and  drums  ;  whereby  the  besiegers  were  roughly  disturbed 
and  awakened." 

The  joy  of  the  besieged  was  short.  Charles  of  Blois  pressed 
on  the  siege  more  rigorously  every  day,  threatening  that,  when 
he  should  have  taken  the  place,  he  would  put  all  the  inhabitants 
to  the  sword.  Consternation  spread  even  to  the  brave  ;  and  a 
negotiation  was  opened  with  a  view  of  arriving  at  terms  of  capit- 
ulation. By  dint  of  prayers  Countess  Joan  obtained  a  delay  of 
three  days.  The  first  two  had  expired,  and  the  besiegers  were 
preparing  for  a  fresh  assault,  when  Joan,  from  the  top  of  her 
tower,  saw  the  sea  covered  with  sails :  "  '  See,  see,'  she  cried, 
'  the  aid  so  much  desired ! '  Every  one  in  the  town,  as  best 
they  could,  rushed  up  at  once  to  the  windows  and  battlements 
of  the  walls  to  see  what  it  might  be,"  says  Froissart.  In  point 
of  fact  it  was  a  fleet  with  six  thousand  men  brought  from  Eng- 
land to  the  relief  of  Hennebon  by  Amaury  de  Clisson  and  Wal- 
ter de  Manny  ;  and  they  had  been  a  long  while  detained  at  sea 
by  contrary  winds.  "  When  they  had  landed  the  countess  her- 
self went  to  them  and  feasted  them  and  thanked  them  greatly, 
which  was  no  wonder,  for  she  had  sore  need  of  their  coming." 
It  was  far  better  still  when,  next  day,  the  new  arrivals  had 
attacked  the  besiegers  and  gained  a  brilliant  victory  over  them. 
When  they  re-entered  the  place,  "  whoever,"  says  Froissart, 
"saw  the  countess  descend  from  the  castle,  and  kiss  my  lord 
Walter  de  Manny  and  his  comrades,  one  after  another,  two  or 
three  times,  might  well  have  said  that  it  was  a  gallant  dame." 

All  the  while  that  the  Count  of  Montfort  was  a  prisoner  in 
the  tower  of  the  Louvre,  the  countess  his  wife  strove  for  his 


284  POPULAR  HISTORY  OF  FRANCE.      [Chap.  XX. 

cause  with  the  same  indefatigable  energy.  He  escaped  in  1345, 
crossed  over  to  England,  swore  fealty  and  homage  to  Edward 
III.  for  the  duchy  of  Brittany,  and  immediately  returned  to 
take  in  hand,  himself,  his  own  cause.  But  in  the  very  year  of 
his  escape,  on  the  26th  of  September,  1345,  he  died  at  the  castle 
of  Hennebon,  leaving  once  more  his  wife,  with  a  young  child, 
alone  at  the  head  of  his  party  and  having  in  charge  the  future 
of  his  house.  The  Countess  Joan  maintained  the  rights  and 
interests  of  her  son  as  she  had  maintained  those  of  her  husband. 
For  nineteen  years,  she,  with  the  help  of  England,  struggled 
against  Charles  of  Blois,  the  head  of  a  party  growing  more  and 
more  powerful,  and  protected  by  France.  Fortune  shifted  her 
favors  and  her  asperities  from  one  camp  to  the  other.  Charles 
of  Blois  had  at  first  pretty  considerable  success ;  but  on  the 
18th  of  June,  1347,  in  a  battle  in  which  he  personally  displaj^ed 
a  brilliant  courage,  he  was  in  his  turn  made  prisoner,  carried  to 
England,  and  immured  in  the  Tower  of  London.  There  he 
remained  nine  years.  But  he  too  had  a  valiant  and  indomita- 
ble wife,  Joan  of  Penthievre,  the  Cripple.  She  did  for  her 
husband  all  that  Joan  of  Montfort  was  doing  for  hers.  All  the 
time  that  he  was  a  prisoner  in  the  Tower  of  London,  she  was 
the  soul  and  the  head  of  his  party,  in  the  open  country  as  well 
as  in  the  towns,  turning  to  profitable  account  the  inclinations 
of  the  Breton  population,  whom  the  presence  and  the  ravages 
of  the  English  had  turned  against  John  of  Montfort  and  his 
cause.  She  even  convoked  at  Dinan,  in  1352,  a  general  assem- 
bly of  her  partisans,  which  is  counted  by  the  Breton  historians 
as  the  second  holding  of  the  states  of  their  country.  During 
nine  years,  from  1347  to  1356,  the  two  Joans  were  the  two 
heads  of  their  parties  in  politics  and  in  war.  Charles  of  Blois 
at  last  obtained  his  liberty  from  Edward  III.  on  hard  conditions, 
and  returned  to  Brittany  to  take  up  the  conduct  of  his  own 
affairs.  The  struggle  between  the  two  claimants  still  lasted 
eight  years,  with  vicissitudes  ending  in  nothing  definite.  In 
1363  Charles  of  Blois  and  young  John  of  Montfort,  weary  of 


Chap.  XX.]  THE  HUNDRED   YEARS'   WAR.  285 

their  fruitless  efforts  and  the  sufferings  of  their  countries,  deter- 
mined both  of  them  to  make  peace  and  share  Brittany  between 
them.  Rennes  was  to  be  Charles's  capital,  and  Nantes  that  of 
his  rival.  The  treaty  had  been  signed,  an  altar  raised  between 
the  two  armies,  and  an  oath  taken  on  both  sides ;  but  when 
Joan  of  Penthievre  was  informed  of  it  she  refused  downright 
to  ratify  it.  "  I  married  you,"  she  said  to  her  husband,  "  to 
defend  my  inheritance,  and  not  to  yield  the  half  of  it ;  I  am 
only  a  woman,  but  I  would  lose  my  life,  and  two  lives  if  I  had 
them,  rather  than  consent  to  any  cession  of  the  kind.  Charles 
of  Blois,  as  weak  before  his  wife  as  brave  before  the  enemy, 
broke  the  treaty  he  had  but  just  sworn  to,  and  set  out  for 
Nantes  to  resume  the  war.  "  My  lord,"  said  Countess  Joan  to 
him  in  presence  of  all  his  knights,  "  you  are  going  to  defend  my 
inheritance  and  yours,  which  my  lord  of  Montfort  —  wrong- 
fully, God  knows  —  doth  withhold  from  us,  and  the  barons  of 
Brittany  who  are  here  present  know  that  I  am  rightful  heiress 
of  it.  I  pray  you  affectionately  not  to  make  any  ordinance, 
composition,  or  treaty  whereby  the  duchy  corporate  remain  not 
ours."  Charles  set  out;  and  in  the  following  year,  on  the  29th 
of  September,  1364,  the  battle  of  Auray  cost  him  his  life  and 
the  countship  of  Brittany.  When  he  was  wounded  to  death 
he  said,  "  I  have  long  been  at  war  against  my  conscience."  At 
sight  of  his  dead  body  on  the  field  of  battle  young  John  of 
Montfort,  his  conqueror,  was  touched,  and  cried  out,  "  Alas  ! 
my  cousin,  by  your  obstinacy  you  have  been  the  cause  of  great 
evils  in  Brittany :  may  God  forgive  you  !  It  grieves  me  much 
that  you  are  come  to  so  sad  an  end."  After  this  outburst  of 
generous  compassion  came  the  joy  of  victory,  which  Montfort 
owed  above  all  to  his  English  allies  and  to  John  Chandos  their 
leader,  to  whom,  "  My  Lord  John,"  said  he,  "  this  great  fortune 
hath  come  to  me  through  your  great  sense  and  prowess  :  where- 
fore, I  pray  you,  drink  out  of  my  cup."  "  Sir,"  answered 
Chandos,  "  let  us  go  hence,  and  render  you  your  thanks  to  God 
for  this  happy  fortune  you  have  gotten,  for,  without  the  death 


286  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF  FRANCE.      [Chap.  XX. 

of  yonder  warrior,  you  could  not  have  come  into  the  inheritance 
of  Brittany."  From  that  day  forth  John  of  Monfort  remained 
in  point  of  fact  Duke  of  Brittany,  and  Joan  of  Penthidvre,  the 
Cripple,  the  proud  princess  who  had  so  obstinately  defended 
her  rights  against  him,  survived  for  full  twenty  years  the  death 
of  her  husband  and  the  loss  of  her  duchy. 

Whilst  the  two  Joans  were  exhibiting  in  Brittany,  for  the 
preservation  or  the  recovery  of  their  little  dominion,  so  much 
energy  and  persistency,  another  Joan,  no  princess,  but  not  the 
less  a  heroine,  was,  in  no  other  interest  than  the  satisfaction  of 
her  love  and  her  vengeance,  making  war,  all  by  herself,  on  the 
same  territory.  Several  Norman  and  Breton  lords,  and  amongst 
others  Oliver  de  Clisson  and  Godfrey  d'Harcourt,  were  suspect- 
ed, nominally  attached  as  they  were  to  the  King  of  France,  of 
having  made  secret  overtures  to  the  King  of  England.  Philip 
of  Valois  had  them  arrested  at  a  tournament,  and  had  them 
beheaded  without  any  form  of  trial,  in  the  middle  of  the  market- 
place at  Paris,  to  the  number  of  fourteen.  The  head  of  Clisson 
was  sent  to  Nantes,  and  exposed  on  one  of  the  gates  of  the  city. 
At  the  news  thereof,  his  widow,  Joan  of  Belleville,  attended  by 
several  men  of  family,  her  neighbors  and  friends,  set  out  for  a 
castle  occupied  by  the  troops  of  Philip's  candidate,  Charles  of 
Blois.  The  fate  of  Clisson  was  not  yet  known  there ;  it  was 
supposed  that  his  wife  was  on  a  hunting  excursion ;  and  she 
was  admitted  without  distrust.  As  soon  as  she  was  inside,  the 
blast  of  a  horn  gave  notice  to  her  followers,  whom  she  had  left 
concealed  in  the  neighboring  woods.  They  rushed  up,  and  took 
possession  of  the  castle,  and  Joan  de  Clisson  had  all  the  inhab- 
itants —  but  one  —  put  to  the  sword.  But  this  was  too  little 
for  her  grief  and  her  zeal.  At  the  head  of  her  troops,  augment- 
ed, she  scoured  the  country  and  seized  several  places,  every- 
where driving  out  or  putting  to  death  the  servants  of  the  King 
of  France.  Philip  confiscated  the  property  of  the  house  of 
Clisson.  Joan  moved  from  land  to  sea.  She  manned  several 
vessels,  attacked  the  French  ships  she  fell  in  with,  ravaged  the 


Chap.  XX.]        THE   HUNDRED   YEARS'   WAR.  287 

coasts,  and  ended  by  going  and  placing  at  the  service  of  the 
Countess  of  Montfort  her  hatred  and  her  son,  a  boy  of  seven 
years  of  age,  whom  she  had  taken  with  her  in  all  her  expeditions, 
and  who  was  afterwards  the  great  constable,  Oliver  de  Clisson. 
We  shall  find  him  under  Charles  V.  and  Charles  VI.  as  devoted 
to  France  and  her  kings  as  if  he  had  not  made  his  first  essays  in 
arms  against  the  candidate  of  their  ancestor,  Philip.  His  moth- 
er had  sent  him  to  England,  to  be  brought  up  at  the  court  of 
Edward  III.,  but,  shortly  after  taking  a  glorious  part  with  the 
English  in  the  battle  of  Auray,  in  which  he  lost  an  eye,  and 
which  secured  the  duchy  of  Brittany  to  the  Count  of  Montfort, 
De  Clisson  got  embroiled  none  the  less  with  his  suzerain,  who 
had  given  John  Chandos  the  castle  of  Gavre,  near  Nantes. 
"  Devil  take  me,  my  lord,"  said  Oliver  to  him,  "if  ever  English- 
man shall  be  my  neighbor ;  "  and  he  went  forthwith  and  at- 
tacked the  castle,  which  he  completely  demolished.  The  hatreds 
of  women  whose  passions  have  made  them  heroines  of  war  are 
more  personal  and  more  obstinate  than  those  of  the  roughest 
warriors.  Accordingly  the  war  for  the  duchy  of  Brittany,  in 
the  fourteenth  century,  has  been  called,  in  history,  the  war  of 
the  three  Joans. 

This  war  was,  on  both  sides,  remarkable  forj  cruelty.  If  Joan 
de  Clisson  gave  to  the  sword  all  the  people  in  a  castle,  belonging 
to  Charles  of  Blois,  to  which  she  had  been  admitted  on  a  suppo- 
sition of  pacific  intentions,  Charles  of  Blois,  on  his  side,  finding 
in  another  castle  thirty  knights,  partisans  of  the  Count  of  Mont- 
fort, had  their  heads  shot  from  catapults  over  the  walls  of 
Nantes,  which  he  was  besieging ;  and,  at  the  same  time  that  he 
saved  from  pillage  the  churches  of  Quimper,  which  he  had  just 
taken,  he  allowed  his  troops  to  massacre  fourteen  hundred  in- 
habitants, and  had  his  principal  prisoners  beheaded.  One  of 
them,  being  a  deacon,  he  caused  to  be  degraded,  and  then  handed 
over  to  the  populace,  who  stoned  him.  It  is  characteristic  of 
the  middle  ages  that  in  them  the  ferocity  of  barbaric  times  ex- 
isted side  by  side  with  the  sentiments  of  chivalry  and  the  fervor 


288  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.      [Chap.  XX. 

of  Christianity :  so  slow  is  the  race  of  man  to  eschew  evil,  even 
when  it  has  begun  to  discern  and  relish  good.  War  was  then 
the  passion  and  habitual  condition  of  men.  They  made  it  with- 
out motive  as  well  as  without  prevision,  in  a  transport  of  feeling 
or  for  the  sake  of  pastime,  to  display  their  strength  or  to  escape 
from  listlessness ;  and,  whilst  making  it,  they  abandoned  them- 
selves without  scruple  to  all  those  deeds  of  violence,  vengeance, 
brutal  anger,  or  fierce  delight,  which  war  provokes.  At  the 
same  time,  however,  the  generous  impulses  of  feudal  chivalry, 
the  sympathies  of  Christian  piety,  tender  affections,  faithful 
devotion,  noble  tastes,  were  fermenting  in  their  souls;  and 
human  nature  appeared  with  all  its  complications,  its  inconsis- 
tencies, and  its  irregularities,  but  also  with  all  its  wealth  of 
prospective  development.  The  three  Joans  of  the  fourteenth 
century  were  but  eighty  years  in  advance  of  the  Joan  of  Arc  of 
the  fifteenth ;  and  the  knights  of  Charles  V.,  Du  Guesclin  and 
De  Clisson,  were  the  forerunners  of  the  Bayard  of  Francis  I. 

An  incident  which  has  retained  its  popularity  in  French  his- 
tory, to  wit,  the  fight  between  thirty  Bretons  and  thirty  English 
during  the  just  now  commemorated  war  in  Brittany,  will  give  a 
better  idea  than  any  general  observations  could  of  the  real,  liv- 
ing characteristics  of  facts  and  manners,  barbaric  and  at  the 
same  time  chivalric,  at  that  period.  No  apology  is  needed  for 
here  reproducing  the  chief  details  as  they  have  been  related  by 
Froissart,  the  dramatic  chronicler  of  the  middle  ages. 

In  1351,  "  it  happened  on  a  day  that  Sir  Robert  de  Beau- 
manoir,  a  valiant  knight  and  commandant  of  the  castle  which  is 
called  Castle  Josselin,  came  before  the  town  and  castle  of  Ploer- 
mel,  whereof  the  captain,  called  Brandebourg  [or  Brembro, 
probably  BremborougK],  had  with  him  a  plenty  of  soldiers  of  the 
Countess  of  Montfort.  '  Brandebourg/  said  Robert,  *  have  ye 
within  there  never  a  man-at-arms,  or  two  or  three,  who  would 
fain  cross  swords  with  other  three  for  love  of  their  ladies  ? ' 
Brandebourg  answered  that  their  ladies  would  not  have  them 
lose  their  lives  in  so  miserable  an  affair  as  single  combat,  whereby 


Chap.  XX.]        THE   HUNDRED   YEARS'   WAR.  289 

one  gained  the  name  of  fool  rather  than  honorable  renown.  •  I 
will  tell  you  what  we  will  do,  if  it  please  you.  You  shall  take 
twenty  or  thirty  of  your  comrades,  as  I  will  take  as  many  of 
ours.  We  will  go  out  into  a  goodly  field  where  none  can  hinder 
or  vex  us,  and  there  will  we  do  so  much  that  men  shall  speak 
thereof  in  time  to  come  in  hall,  and  palace,  and  highway,  and 
other  places  of  the  world.'  4  By  my  faith,'  said  Beaumanoir, 
'  'tis  bravely  said,  and  I  agree  :  be  ye  thirty,  and  we  will  be 
thirty,  too.'  And  thus  the  matter  was  settled.  When  the  day 
had  come,  the  thirty  comrades  of  Brandebourg,  whom  we  shall 
call  English,  heard  mass,  then  got  on  their  arms,  went  off  to  the 
place  where  the  battle  was  to  be,  dismounted,  and  waited  a  long 
while  for  the  others,  whom  we  shall  call  French,  When  the 
thirty  French  had  come,  and  they  were  in  front  one  of  an- 
other, they  parleyed  a  little  together,  all  the  sixty ;  then  they 
fell  back,  and  made  all  their  fellows  go  far  away  from  the  place. 
Then  one  of  them  made  a  sign,  and  forthwith  they  set  on  and 
fought  stoutly  all  in  a  heap,  and  they  aided  one  another  hand- 
somely when  they  saw  their  comrades  in  evil  case.  Pretty  soon 
after  they  had  come  together,  one  of  the  French  was  slain,  but 
the  rest  did  not  slacken  the  fight  one  whit,  and  they  bore  them- 
selves as  valiantly  all  as  if  they  had  all  been  Rolands  and  Oli- 
vers. At  last  they  were  forced  to  stop,  and  they  rested  by 
common  accord,  giving  themselves  truce  until  they  should  be 
rested,  and  the  first  to  get  up  again  should  recall  the  others. 
They  rested  long,  and  there  were  some  who  drank  wine  which 
was  brought  to  them  in  bottles.  They  re-buckled  their  armor, 
which  had  got  undone,  and  dressed  their  wounds.  Four  French 
and  two  English  were  dead  already." 

It  was  no  doubt  during  this  interval  that  the  captain  of  the 
Bretons,  Robert  de  Beaumanoir,  grievously  wounded  and  dying 
of  fatigue  and  thirst,  cried  out  for  a  drink.  "  Drink  thy  blood, 
Beaumanoir,"  said  one  of  his  comrades,  Geoffrey  de  Bois,  ac- 
cording to  some  accounts,  and  Sire  de  Tinteniac,  according  to 
others.     From  that  day  those  words  became  the  war-cry  of  the 

vol.  ii.  37 


290  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.       [Chap.  XX. 

Beaumanoirs.  Froissart  says  nothing  of  this  incident.  Let  us 
return  to  his  narrative. 

"  When  they  were  refreshed,  the  first  to  get  up  again  made  a 
sign,  and  recalled  the  others.  Then  the  battle  recommenced  as 
stoutly  as  before,  and  lasted  a  long  while.  They  had  short 
swords  of  Bordeaux,  tough  and  sharp,  and  boar-spears  and  dag- 
gers, and  some  had  axes,  and  therewith  they  dealt  one  another 
marvellously  great  dings,  and  some  seized  one  another  by  the 
arms  a-struggling,  and  they  struck  one  another,  and  spared  not. 
At  last  the  English  had  the  worst  of  it;  Brandebourg,  their 
captain,  was  slain,  with  eight  of  his  comrades,  and  the  rest 
yielded  themselves  prisoners  when  they  saw  that  they  could  no 
longer  defend  themselves,  for  they  could  not  and  must  not  fly. 
Sir  Robert  de  Beaumanoir  and  his  comrades,  who  remained 
alive,  took  them  and  carried  them  off  to  Castle  Josselin  as  their 
prisoners ;  and  then  admitted  them  to  ransom  courteously  when 
they  were  all  cured,  for  there  was  none  that  was  not  grievously 
wounded,  French  as  well  as  English.  I  saw  afterwards,  sitting 
at  the  table  of  King  Charles  of  France,  a  Breton  knight  who 
had  been  in  it,  Sir  Yvon  Charuel ,  and  he  had  a  face  so  carved 
and  cut  that  he  showed  full  well  how  good  a  fight  had  been 
fought.  The  matter  was  talked  of  in  many  places,  and  some  set 
it  down  as  a  very  poor,  and  others  as  a  very  swaggering 
business." 

The  most  modern  and  most  judicious  historian  of  Brittany, 
Count  Daru,  who  has  left  a  name  as  honorable  in  literature  as  in 
the  higher  administration  of  the  First  Empire,  says,  very  truly, 
in  recounting  this  incident,  "  It  is  not  quite  certain  whether  this 
was  an  act  of  patriotism  or  of  chivalry."  He  might  have  gone 
farther,  and  discovered  in  this  exploit  not  only  the  characteristics 
he  points  out,  but  many  others  besides.  Local  patriotism,  the 
honor  of  Brittany,  party  spirit,  the  success  of  John  of  Montfort 
or  Charles  of  Blois,  the  sentiment  of  gallantry,  the  glorification 
of  the  most  beautiful  one  amongst  their  lady-loves,  and,  chiefly, 
the  passion  for  war  amongst  all  and  sundry  —  there  was  some- 


Chap.  XX.]  THE   HUNDRED  YEARS'  WAR.  291 

thing  of  all  this  mixed  up  with  the  battle  of  the  Thirty,  a  faith- 
ful reflex  of  the  complication  and  confusion  of  minds,  of  morals, 
and  of  wants  at  that  forceful  period.  It  is  this  very  variety  of 
the  ideas,  feelings,  interests,  motives,  and  motive  tendencies 
involved  in  that  incident  which  accounts  for  the  fact  that  the 
battle  of  the  Thirty  has  remained  so  vividly  remembered,  and 
that  in  1811  a  monument,  unpretentious  but  national,  replaced 
the  simple  stone  at  first  erected  on  the  field  of  battle,  on  the 
edge  of  the  road  from  Ploermel  to  Josselin,  with  this  inscription : 
"  To  the  immortal  memory  of  the  battle  of  the  Thirty,  gained 
by  Marshal  Beaumanoir,  on  the  26th  of  March,  1350  (1351)." 

With  some  fondness,  and  at  some  length,  this  portion  of  Brit- 
tany's history  in  the  fourteenth  century  has  been  dwelt  upon, 
not  only  because  of  the  dramatic  interest  attaching  to  the  events 
and  the  actors,  but  also  for  the  sake  of  showing,  by  that  exam- 
ple, how  many  separate  associations,  diverse  and  often  hostile, 
were  at  that  time  developing  themselves,  each  on  its  own  ac- 
count, in  that  extensive  and  beautiful  country  which  became 
France.  We  will  now  return  to  Philip  of  Valois  and  Edward 
III.,  and  to  the  struggle  between  them  for  a  settlement  of  the 
question  whether  France  should  or  should  not  preserve  its  own 
independent  kingship,  and  that  national  unity  of  which  she 
already  had  the  name,  but  of  which  she  was  still  to  undergo  so 
much  painful  travail  in  acquiring  the  reality. 

Although  Edward  III.  by  supporting  with  troops  and  officers, 
and  sometimes  even  in  person,  the  cause  of  the  Countess  of 
Montfort,  and .  Philip  of  Valois  by  assisting  in  the  same  way 
Charles  of  Blois  and  Joan  of  Penthievre,  took  a  very  active,  if 
indirect,  share  in  the  war  in  Brittany,  the  two  kings  persisted  in 
not  calling  themselves  at  war;  and  when  either  of  them  pro- 
ceeded to  acts  of  unquestionable  hostility,  they  eluded  the  con- 
sequences of  them  by  hastily  concluding  truces  incessantly  vio- 
lated and  as  incessantly  renewed.  They  had  made  use  of  this 
expedient  in  1340  ;  and  they  had  recourse  to  it  again  in  1342, 
1343,  and  1344.     The  last  of  these  truces  was  to  have  lasted  up 


292  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.     [Chap.  XX. 

to  1346 ;  but,  in  the  spring  of  1345,  Edward  resolved  to  put  an 
end  to  this  equivocal  position,  and  to  openly  recommence  war. 
He  announced  his  intention  to  Pope  Clement  IV.,  to  his  own 
lieutenants  in  Brittany,  and  to  all  the  cities  and  corporations  of 
his  kingdom.  He  accused  Philip  of  having  "violated,  without 
even  sending  us  a  challenge,  the  truce  which,  out  of  regard  to 
the  sovereign  pontiff,  we  had  agreed  upon  with  him,  and  which 
he  had  taken  an  oath,  upon  his  soul,  to  keep.  On  account 
whereof  we  have  resolved  to  proceed  against  him,  him  and  all 
his  adherents,  by  land  and  sea,  by  all  means  possible,  in  order  to 
recover  our  just  rights."  It  is  not  quite  clear  what  pressing 
reasons  urged  Edward  to  this  decisive  resolution.  The  English 
Parliament  and  people,  it  is  true,  showed  more  disposition  to 
support  their  king  in  his  pretensions  to  the  throne  of  France, 
and  the  cause  of  the  Count  of  Montfort  was  maintaining  itself 
stubbornly  in  Brittany,  but  nothing  seemed  to  call  for  so  star- 
tling a  rupture,  or  to  promise  Edward  any  speedy  and  successful 
issue.  He  had  lost  his  most  energetic  and  warlike  adviser ;  for 
Robert  d'Artois,  the  deadly  enemy  of  Philip  of  Valois,  had  been 
so  desperately  wounded  in  the  defence  of  Vannes  against  Robert 
de  Beaumanoir,  that  he  had  returned  to  England  only  to  die. 
Edward  felt  this  loss  severely,  gave  Robert  a  splendid  funeral  in 
St.  Paul's  church,  and  declared  that  "he  would  listen  to  nought 
until  he  had  avenged  him,  and  that  he  would  reduce  the  country 
of  Brittany  to  such  plight  that,  for  forty  years,  it  should  not 
recover.' '  Philip  of  Valois,  on  his  side,  gave  signs  of  getting 
ready  for  war.  In  1343  he  had  convoked  at  Paris  one  of  those 
assemblies  which  were  beginning  to  be  called  the  states-general 
of  the  kingdom,  and  he  obtained  from  it  certain  subventions. 
It  was  likewise  in  1343  and  at  the  beginning  of  1344,  that  he 
ordered  the  arrest,  at  a  tournament  to  which  he  had  invited 
them,  and  the  decapitation,  without  any  form  of  trial,  of  four- 
teen Breton  and  three  Norman  lords  whom  he  suspected  of 
intriguing  against  him  with  the  King  of  England.  And  so 
Edward  might  have  considered  himself  threatened  with  immi- 


Chap.  XX.]        THE   HUNDRED   YEARS'   WAR.  293 

nent  peril ;  and,  besides,  he  had  friends  to  avenge.  But  it  is 
not  unreasonable  to  suppose  that  his  fiery  ambition,  and  his  im- 
patience to  decide,  once  for  all,  that  question  of  the  French 
kingship  which  had  been  for  five  years  in  suspense  between 
himself  and  his  rival,  were  the  true  causes  of  his  warlike  re- 
solve. However  that  may  be,  he  determined  to  push  the  war 
vigorously  forward  at  the  three  points  at  which  he  could  easily 
wage  it.  In  Brittany  he  had  a  party  already  engaged  in  the 
struggle ;  in  Aquitaine,  possessions  of  importance  to  defend  or 
recover;  in  Flanders,  allies  with  power  to  back  him,  and  as 
angry  as  he  himself.  To  Brittany  he  forwarded  fresh  supplies 
for  the  Count  of  Montfort ;  to  Aquitaine  he  sent  Henry  of  Lan- 
caster, Earl  of  Derby,  his  own  cousin,  and  the  ablest  of  his  lieu- 
tenants; and  he  himself  prepared  to  cross  over  with  a  large 
army  to  Flanders. 

The  Earl  of  Derby  met  with  solid  and  brilliant  success  in 
Aquitaine.  He  attacked  and  took  in  rapid  succession  Bergerac, 
La  Reole,  Aiguillon,  Montpezat,  Villefranche,  and  Angouleme. 
None  of  those  places  was  relieved  in  time ;  the  strict  discipline 
of  Derby's  troops  and  the  skill  of  the  English  archers  were  too 
much  for  the  bravery  of  the  men-at-arms,  and  the  raw  levies,  ill 
organized  and  ill  paid,  of  the  King  of  France ;  and,  in  a  word, 
the  English  were  soon  masters  of  almost  the  whole  country  be- 
tween the  Garonne  and  the  Charente.  Under  such  happy  au- 
spices Edward  III.  arrived  on  the  7th  of  July,  1345,  at  the  port 
of  Ecluse  (Sluys),  anxious  to  put  himself  in  concert  with  the 
Flemings  touching  the  campaign  he  proposed  to  commence 
before  long  in  the  north  of  France.  Artevelde,  with  the  consuls 
of  Bruges  and  Ypres,  was  awaiting  him  there.  According  to 
some  historians,  Edward  invited  them  aboard  of  his  galley,  and 
represented  to  them  that  the  time  had  come  for  renouncing  im- 
perfect resolves  and  half-measures ;  told  them  that  their  count, 
Louis  of  Flanders,  and  his  ancestors,  had  always  ignored  and 
attacked  their  liberties,  and  that  the  best  thing  they  could  do 
would  be  to  sever  their  connection  with  a  house  they  could  not 


294  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF  FRANCE.      [Chap.  XX. 

trust;  and  offered  them  for  their  chieftain  his  own  son,  the 
young  Prince  of  Wales,  to  whom  he  would  give  the  title  of 
Duke  of  Flanders.  According  to  other  historians,  it  was  not 
King  Edward,  but  Artevelde  himself,  who  took  the  initiative  in 
this  proposition.  The  latter  had  for  some  time  past  felt  his  own 
dominion  in  Flanders  attacked  and  shaken  ;  and  he  had  been 
confronted,  in  his  own  native  city,  by  declared  enemies,  who 
had  all  but  come  to  blows  with  his  own  partisans.  The  different 
industrial  corporations  of  Ghent  were  no  longer  at  one  amongst 
themselves ;  the  weavers  had  quarrelled  with  the  fullers.  Di- 
vision was  likewise  reaching  a  great  height  amongst  the  Flemish 
towns.  The  burghers  of  Poperinghe  had  refused  to  continue 
recognizing  the  privileges  of  those  of  Ypres ;  and  the  Ypres 
men,  enraged,  had  taken  up  arms,  and,  after  a  sanguinary  mel- 
ley,  had  forced  the  folks  of  Poperinghe  to  give  in.  Then  the 
Ypres  men,  proud  of  their  triumph,  had  gone  and  broken  the 
weavers'  machinery  at  Bailleul,  and  in  some  other  towns.  Arte- 
velde, constrained  to  take  part  in  these  petty  civil  wars,  had 
been  led  on  to  greater  and  greater  abuse,  in  his  own  city  itself, 
of  his  municipal  despotism,  already  grown  hateful  to  many  of 
his  fellow-citizens.  Whether  he  himself  proposed  to  shake  off 
the  yoke  of  Count  Louis  of  Flanders,  and  take  for  duke  the 
Prince  of  Wales,  or  merely  accepted  King  Edward's  proposal,  he 
set  resolutely  to  work  to  get  it  carried.  The  most  able  men, 
swayed  by  their  own  passions  and  the  growing  necessities  of 
the  struggle  in  which  they  may  be  engaged,  soon  forget  their 
first  intentions,  and  ignore  their  new  perils.  The  consuls  of 
Bruges  and  Ypres,  present  with  Artevelde  at  his  interview  with 
King  Edward  in  the  port  of  Ecluse  (Sluys),  answered  that 
"  they  could  not  decide  so  great  a  matter  unless  the  whole  com- 
munity of  Flanders  should  agree  thereto,"  and  so  returned  to 
their  cities.  Artevelde  followed  them  thither,  and  succeeded  in 
getting  the  proposed  resolution  adopted  by  the  people  of  Ypres 
and  Bruges.  But  when  he  returned  to  Ghent,  on  the  24th  of 
July,  1345,  "those  in  the  city  who  knew  of  his  coming,"  says 


Chap.  XX.]  THE   HUNDRED   YEARS'   WAR.  295 

Froissart,  "  had  assembled  in  the  street  whereby  he  must  ride  to 
his  hostel.  So  soon  as  they  saw  him  they  began  to  mutter,  say- 
ing, 4  There  goes  he  who  is  too  much  master,  and  would  fain  do 
with  the  countship  of  Flanders  according  to  his  own  will ;  which 
cannot  be  borne.'  It  had,  besides  this,  been  spread  about  the 
city  that  James  Van  Artevelde  had  secretly  sent  to  England  the 
great  treasure  of  Flanders,  which  he  had  been  collecting  for  the 
space  of  the  nine  years  and  more  during  which  he  had  held  the 
government.  This  was  a  matter  which  did  greatly  vex  and 
incense  them  of  Ghent.  As  James  Van  Artevelde  rode  along 
the  street,  he  soon  perceived  that  there  was  something  fresh 
against  him,  for  those  who  were  wont  to  bow  down  and  take  off 
their  caps  to  him  turned  him  a  cold  shoulder,  and  went  back 
into  their  houses.  Then  he  began  to  be  afraid ;  and  so  soon  as 
he  had  dismounted  at  his  house,  he  had  all  the  doors  and  win- 
dows shut  and  barred.  Scarcely  had  his  varlets  done  so,  when 
the  street  in  which  he  lived  was  covered,  front  and  back,  with 
folk,  and  chiefly  small  crafts-folk.  His  hostel  was  surrounded 
and  beset,  front  and  back,  and  broken  into  by  force.  Those 
within  defended  themselves  a  long  while,  and  overthrew  and 
wounded  many ;  but  at  last  they  could  not  hold  out,  for  they 
were  so  closely  assailed  that  nearly  three  quarters  of  the  city 
were  at  this  assault.  When  Artevelde  saw  the  efforts  a-making, 
and  how  hotly  he  was  pressed,  he  came  to  a  window  over  the 
street,  and  began  to  abase  himself,  and  say  with  much  fine  lan- 
guage, '  Good  folks,  what  want  ye  ?  What  is  it  that  doth  move 
ye  ?  Wherefore  are  ye  so  vexed  at  me  ?  In  what  way  can  I 
have  angered  ye  ?  Tell  me,  and  I  will  mend  it  according  to 
your  wishes.'  Then  all  those  who  had  heard  him  answered 
with  one  voice,  *  We  would  have  an  account  of  the  great  treas- 
ure of  Flanders,  which  you  have  sent  to  England  without  right 
or  reason.'  Artevelde  answered  full  softly,  '  Of  a  surety,  sirs,  I 
have  never  taken  a  denier  from  the  treasury  of  Flanders ;  go  ye 
back  quietly  home,  I  pray  you,  and  come  again  to-morrow 
morning ;  I  shall  be  so  well  prepared  to  render  you  a  good  ac- 


296  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF  FRANCE.      [Chap.  XX. 

count,  that,  according  to  reason,  it  cannot  but  content  ye.' 
4  Nay,  nay,'  they  answered,  with  one  voice,  *  but  we  would  have 
it  at  once ;  you  shall  not  escape  us  so ;  we  do  know  of  a  verity 
that  you  have  taken  it  out  and  sent  it  away  to  England,  without 
our  wit ;  for  which  cause  you  must  needs  die.'  When  Artevelde 
heard  this  word,  he  began  to  weep  right  piteously,  and  said, 
4  Sirs,  ye  have  made  me  what  I  am,  and  ye  did  swear  to  me 
aforetime  that  ye  would  guard  and  defend  me  against  all  men  ; 
and  now  ye  would  kill  me,  and  without  a  cause.  Ye  can  do  so 
an  if  it  please  you,  for  I  am  but  one  single  man  against  ye  all, 
without  any  defence.  Think  hereon,  for  God's  sake,  and  look 
back  to  bygone  times.  Consider  the  great  courtesies  and  ser- 
vices that  I  have  done  ye.  Know  ye  not  how  all  trade  had  per- 
ished in  this  country  ?  It  was  I  who  raised  it  up  again.  After- 
wards I  governed  ye  in  peace  so  great,  that,  during  the  time  of 
my  government,  ye  have  had  everything  to  your  wish,  grains, 
wools,  and  air  sorts  of  merchandise,  wherewith  ye  are  well  pro- 
vided and  in  good  case.'  Then  they  began  to  shout,  *  Come 
down,  and  preach  not  to  us  from  such  a  height ;  we  would  have 
account  and  reckoning  of  the  great  treasure  of  Flanders  which 
you  have  too  long  had  under  control  without  rendering  an  ac- 
count, which  it  appertaineth  not  to  any  officer  to  do.'  When 
Artevelde  saw  that  they  would  not  cool  down,  and  would  not 
restrain  themselves,  he  closed  the  window,  and  bethought  him 
that  he  would  escape  by  the  back,  and  get  him  gone  to  a  church 
adjoining  his  hostel ;  but  his  hostel  was  already  burst  open  and 
broken  into  behind,  and  there  were  more  than  four  hundred 
persons  who  were  all  anxious  to  seize  him.  At  last  he  was 
caught  amongst  them,  and  killed  on  the  spot  without  mercy.  A 
weaver,  called  Thomas  Denis,  gave  him  his  death-blow.  This 
was  the  end  of  Artevelde,  who  in  his  time  was  so  great  a  master 
in  Flanders.  Poor  folk  exalted  him  at  first,  and  wicked  folk 
slew  him  at  the  last." 

It  was  a  great  loss  for  King  Edward.     Under  Van  Artevelde's 
bold  dominance,  and  in  consequence  of  his  alliance  with  Eng- 


JAMES  VAN  ARTEVELDE.  —  Page  29(3. 


Chap.  XX.]        THE   HUNDRED   YEARS'   WAR.  297 

land,  the  warlike  renown  of  Flanders  had  made  some  noise  in 
Europe,  to  such  an  extent  that  Petrarch  exclaimed,  "  List  to  the 
sounds,  still   indistinct,  that  reach  us  from   the  world  of  the 
West;  Flanders  is  plunged  in  ceaseless  war;  all  the  country 
stretching  from  the  restless  Ocean  to  the  Latin  Alps  is  rushing 
forth  to  arms.     Would  to  Heaven  that  there  might  come  to  us 
some  gleams  of  salvation  from  thence  !     O  Italy,  poor  father- 
land, thou  prey  to  sufferings  without  relief,  thou  who  wast  wont 
with  thy  deeds  of  arms  to  trouble  the  peace  of  the  world,  now 
art  thou  motionless  when  the  fate  of  the  world  hangs  on  the 
chances  of  battle !  "     The  Flemings  spared  no  effort  to  re-assure 
the  King  of  England.     Their  envoys  went  to  Westminster  to 
deplore  the  murder  of  Yan  Artevelde,  and  tried  to  persuade 
Edward  that  his  policy  would  be  perpetuated  throughout  their 
cities,  and  "to  such  purpose,"  says  Froissart,  "that  in  the  end 
the  king  was  fairly  content  with  the  Flemings,  and  they  with 
him,  and,  between  them,  the  death  of  James  Van  Artevelde  was 
little   by   little   forgotten."     Edward,    however,  was   so   much 
affected  by  it  that  he  required  a  whole  year  before  he  could 
resume  with  any  confidence  his  projects  of  war  ;  and  it  was  not 
until  the  2d  of  July,  1346,  that  he  embarked  at  Southampton, 
taking  with  him,  besides  his  son,  the  Prince  of  Wales,  hardly 
sixteen  years  of  age,  an  army  which  comprised,  according  to 
Froissart,  seven  earls,  more  than  thirty-five  barons,  a  great  num- 
ber of  knights,  four  thousand  men-at-arms,  ten  thousand  English 
archers,  six  thousand  Irish,  and  twelve  thousand  Welsh  infantry, 
in   all   something   more   than  thirty-two  thousand  men,  troops 
even  more  formidable  for  their  discipline  and  experience  of  war 
than  for  their  numbers.     When  they  were  out  at  sea  none  knew, 
not  even  the  king  himself,  for  what  point  of  the  Continent  they 
were  to  make,  for  the  south  or  the  north,  for  Aquitaine  or  Nor- 
mandy.    "  Sir,"  said  Godfrey  d'Harcourt,  who  had  become  one 
of  the  king's  most  trusted  counsellors,  "  the  country  of  Nor- 
mandy is  one  of  the  fattest  in  the  world,  and  I  promise  you,  at 
the  risk  of  my  head,  that  if  you  put  in  there  you  shall  take  pos- 
vol.  it.  88 


298  POPULAR  HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.       [Chap.  XX. 

session  of  land  at  your  good  pleasure,  for  the  folk  there  never 
were  armed,  and  all  the  flower  of  their  chivalry  is  now  at  Ai- 
guillon  with  their  duke ;  for  certain,  we  shall  find  there  gold, 
silver,  victual,  and  all  other  good  things  in  great  abundance." 
Edward  adopted  this  advice ;  and  on  the  12th  of  July,  1346,  his 
fleet  anchored  before  the  peninsula  of  Cotentin,  at  Cape  La 
Hogue.  Whilst  disembarking,  at  the  very  first  step  he  made  on 
shore,  the  king  fell  "so  roughly,"  says  Froissart,  "that  blood 
spurted  from  his  nose.  4  Sir,'  said  his  knights  to  him,  ;  go  back 
to  your  ship,  and  come  not  now  to  land,  for  here  is  an  ill  sign 
for  you.'  4  Nay,  verily,'  quoth  the  king,  full  roundly,  '  it  is  a 
right  good  sign  for  me,  since  the  land  doth  desire  me.'  "  Caesar 
did  and  said  much  the  same  on  disembarking  in  Africa,  and 
William  the  Conqueror  on  landing  in  England.  In  spite  of  con- 
temporary accounts,  there  is  a  doubt  about  the  authenticity  of 
these  striking  expressions,  which  become  favorites,  and  crop  up 
again  on  all  similar  occasions. 

For  a  month  Edward  marched  his  army  over  Normandy, 
"  finding  on  his  road,"  says  Froissart,  "  the  country  fat  and 
plenteous  in  everything,  the  garners  full  of  corn,  the  houses  full 
of  all  manner  of  riches,  carriages,  wagons  and  horses,  swine, 
ewes,  wethers,  and  the  finest  oxen  in  the  world."  He  took  and 
plundered  on  his  way  Barfleur,  Cherbourg,  Valognes,  Carentan, 
and  St.  L6\  When,  on  the  26th  of  July,  he  arrived  before 
Caen,  "a  city  bigger  than  any  in  England  save  London,  and  full 
of  all  kinds  of  merchandise,  of  rich  burghers,  of  noble  dames, 
and  of  fine  churches,"  the  population  attempted  to  resist. 
Philip  had  sent  to  them  the  constable,  Raoul  d'Eu,  and  the 
Count  of  Tancarville ;  but,  after  three  days  of  petty  fighting 
around  the  city  and  even  in  the  streets  themselves,  Edward  be- 
came master  of  it,  and  on  the  entreaty,  it  is  said,  of  Godfrey 
d'Harcourt,  exempted  it  from  pillage.  Continuing  his  march, 
he  occupied  Louviers,  Vernon,  Verneuil,  Mantes,  Meulan,  and 
Poissy,  where  he  took  up  his  quarters  in  the  old  residence  of 
King  Robert ;  and  thence  his  troops  advanced  and  spread  them- 


Chap.  XX.]  THE   HUNDRED   YEARS'   WAR.  299 

selves  as  far  as  Ruel,  Neuilly,  Boulogne,  St.  Cloud,  Bourg-la- 
Reine,  and  almost  to  the  gates  of  Paris,  whence  could  be  seen 
"  the  fire  and  smoke  from  burning  villages."  "  We  ourselves," 
says  a  contemporary  chronicler,  "  saw  these  things  ;  and  it  was 
a  great  dishonor  that  in  the  midst  of  the  kingdom  of  France 
the  King  of  England  should  squander,  spoil,  and  consume  the 
king's  wines  and  other  goods."  Great  was  the  consternation 
at  Paris.  And  it  was  redoubled  when  Philip  gave  orders  for 
the  demolition  of  the  houses  built  along  by  the  walls  of  circum- 
vallation,  on  the  ground  that  they  embarrassed  the  defence. 
The  people  believed  that  they  were  on  the  eve  of  a  siege. 
The  order  was  revoked  ;  but  the  feeling  became  even  more 
intense  when  it  was  known  that  the  king  was  getting  ready  to 
start  for  St.  Denis,  where  his  principal  allies,  the  King  of 
Bohemia,  the  Dukes  of  Hainault  and  of  Lorraine,  the  Counts 
of  Flanders  and  of  Blois,  "  and  a  very  great  array  of  baronry 
and  chivalry,"  were  already  assembled.  "Ah!  dear  sir  and 
noble  king,"  cried  the  burghers  of  Paris  as  they  came  to  Philip 
and  threw  themselves  on  their  knees  before  him,  "  what  would 
you  do  ?  Would  you  thus  leave  your  good  city  of  Paris  ? 
Your  enemies  are  already  within  two  leagues,  and  will  soon  be 
in  our  city  when  they  know  that  you  are  gone  ;  and  we  have 
and  shall  have  none  to  defend  us  against  them.  Sir,  may  it 
please  you  to  remain  and  watch  over  your  good  city."  "  My 
good  people,"  answered  the  king,  "  have  ye  no  fear  :  the  Eng- 
lish shall  come  no  nigher  to  you ;  I  am  away  to  St.  Denis  to  my 
men-at-arms,  for  I  mean  to  ride  against  these  English,  and 
fight  them,  in  such  fashion  as  I  may."  Philip  recalled  in  all 
haste  his  troops  from  Aquitaine,  commanded  the  burgher-forces 
to  assemble,  and  gave  them,  as  he  had  given  all  his  allies,  St. 
Denis  for  the  rallying-point.  At  sight  of  so  many  great  lords 
and  all  sorts  of  men  of  war  flocking  together  from  all  points, 
the  Parisians  took  fresh  courage.  "  For  many  a  long  day 
there  had  not  been  seen  at  St.  Denis  a  king  of  France  in  arms 
and  fully  prepared  for  battle." 


300  POPULAR   HISTORY  OF   FRANCE.      [Chap.  XX. 

Edward  began  to  be  afraid  of  having  pushed  too  far  forward, 
and  of  finding  himself  endangered  in  the  heart  of  France, 
confronted  by  an  army  which  would  soon  be  stronger  than 
his  own.  Some  chronicles  say  that  Philip,  in  his  turn,  sent 
a  challenge  either  for  single  combat  or  for  a  battle  on  a 
fixed  day,  in  a  place  assigned,  and  that  Edward,  in  his  turn 
also,  declined  the  proposition  he  had  but  lately  made  to  his 
rival.  It  appears,  further,  that  at  the  moment  of  commencing 
his  retreat  away  from  Paris,  he  tried  ringing  the  changes  on 
Philip  with  respect  to  the  line  he  intended  to  take,  and  that 
Philip  was  led  to  believe  that  the  English  army  would  fall 
back  in  a  westerly  direction,  by  Orleans  and  Tours,  whereas 
it  marched  northward,  where  Edward  nattered  himself  he 
would  find  partisans,  counting  especially  on  the  help  of  the 
Flemings,  who,  in  fulfilment  of  their  promise,  had  already 
advanced  as  far  as  Bcthune  to  support  him.  Philip  was  soon 
better  informed,  and  moved  with  all  his  army  into  Picardy 
in  pursuit  of  the  English  army,  which  was  in  a  hurry  to  reach 
and  cross  the  Somme,  and  so  continue  its  march  northward. 
It  was  more  than  once  forced  to  fight  on  its  march  with  the 
people  of  the  towns  and  country  through  which  it  was  passing ; 
provisions  were  beginning  to  fall  short ;  and  Edward  sent  his 
two  marshals,  the  Earl  of  Warwick  and  Godfrey  d'Harcourt, 
to  discover  where  it  was  practicable  to  cross  the  river,  which,  at 
this  season  of  the  year  and  so  near  its  mouth,  was  both  broad 
and  deep.  They  returned  without  having  any  satisfactory 
information  to  report ;  "  whereupon,"  says  Froissart,  "  the  king 
was  not  more  joyous  or  less  pensive,  and  began  to  fall  into  a 
great  melancholy."  He  had  halted  three  or  four  days  at 
Airaines,  some  few  leagues  from  Amiens,  whither  the  King  of 
France  had  arrived  in  pursuit  with  an  army,  it  is  said,  more  than 
a  hundred  thousand  strong.  Philip  learned  through  his  scouts 
that  the  King  of  England  would  evacuate  Airaines  the  next 
morning,  and  ride  to  Abbeville  in  hopes  of  finding  some  means 
of  getting   over   the    Somme.      Philip   immediately   ordered  a 


Chap.  XX.]  THE   HUNDRED   YEARS'   WAR.  301 

Norman  baron,  Godemar  du  Fay,  to  go  with  a  body  of  troops 
and  guard  the  ford  of  Blanche-Tache,  below  Abbeville,  the 
only  point  at  which,  it  was  said,  the  English  could  cross  the 
river ;  and  on  the  same  day  he  himself  moved  with  the  bulk 
of  his  army  from  Amiens  on  Airaines.  There  he  arrived  about 
midday,  some  few  hours  after  that  the  King  of  England  had 
departed  with  such  precipitation  that  the  French  found  in  it 
"  great  store  of  provisions,  meat  ready  spitted,  bread  and  pastry 
in  the  oven,  wines  in  barrel,  and  many  tables  which  the  Eng- 
lish had  left  ready  set  and  laid  out."  "  Sir,"  said  Philip's 
officers  to  him,  as  soon  as  he  was  at  Airaines,  "rest  you  here 
and  wait  for  your  barons  and  their  folk,  for  the  English  cannot 
escape  you."  It  was  concluded,  in  point  of  fact,  that  Edward 
and  his  troops,  not  being  able  to  cross  the  Somme,  would  find 
themselves  hemmed  in  between  the  French  army  and  the  strong 
places  of  Abbeville,  St.  Valery,  and  Le  Crotoi,  in  the  most  evil 
case  and  perilous  position  possible.  But  Edward,  on  arriving 
at  the  little  town  of  Oisemont,  hard  by  the  Somme,  set  out  in 
person  in  quest  of  the  ford  he  was  so  anxious  to  discover.  He 
sent  for  some  prisoners  he  had  made  in  the  country,  and  said 
to  them,  "right  courteously,"  according  to  Froissart,  "  4  Is  there 
here  any  man  who  knows  of  a  passage  below  Abbeville,  where- 
by we  and  our  army  might  cross  the  river  without  peril? '  And 
a  varlet  from  a  neighboring  mill,  whose  name  history  has  pre- 
served as  that  of  a  traitor,  Gobin  Agace,  said  to  the  king,  '  Sir, 
I  do  promise  you,  at  the  risk  of  my  head,  that  I  will  guide  you 
to  such  a  spot,  where  you  shall  cross  the  River  Somme  without 
peril,  you  and  your  army.'  '  Comrade,'  said  the  king  to  him, 
4  if  I  find  true  that  which  thou  tellest  us,  I  will  set  thee  free 
from  thy  prison,  thee  and  all  thy  fellows  for  love  of  thee,  and  I 
will  cause  to  be  given  to  thee  a  hundred  golden  nobles  and  a 
good  stallion.'  "  The  varlet  had  told  the  truth  ;  the  ford  was 
found  at  the  spot  called  Blanche-Tache,  whither  Philip  had 
sent  Godemar  du  Fay  with  a  few  thousand  men  to  guard  it. 
A  battle  took  place ;  but  the  two  marshals  of  England,  "  un- 


302  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.     [Chap.  XX. 

furling  their  banners  in  the  name  of  God  and  St.  George,  and 
having  with  them  the  most  valiant  and  best  mounted,  threw 
themselves  into  the  water  at  full  gallop,  and  there,  in  the  river, 
was  done  many  a  deed  of  battle,  and  many  a  man  was  laid  low 
on  one  side  and  the  other,  for  Sir  Godemar  and  his  comrades 
did  valiantly  defend  the  passage ;  but  at  last  the  English  got 
across,  and  moved  forward  into  the  fields  as  fast  as  ever  they 
landed.  When  Sir  Goclemar  saw  the  mishap,  he  made  off  as 
quickly  as  he  could,  and  so  did  a  many  of  his  comrades."  The 
King  of  France,  when  he  heard  the  news,  was  very  wroth, 
"  for  he  had  good  hope  of  finding  the  English  on  the  Somme 
and  fighting  them  there.  4  What  is  it  right  to  do  now  ?  '  asked 
Philip  of  his  marshals.  '  Sir,'  answered  they,  'you  cannot  now 
cross  in  pursuit  of  the  English,  for  the  tide  is  already  up.'  " 
Philip  went  disconsolate  to  lie  at  Abbeville,  whither  all  his  men 
followed  him.  Had  he  been  as  watchful  as  Edward  was,  and 
had  he,  instead  of  halting  at  Airaines  "  by  the  ready-set  tables 
which  the  English  had  left,"  marched  at  once  in  pursuit  of  them, 
perhaps  he  would  have  caught  and  beaten  them  on  the  left  bank 
of  the  Somme,  before  they  could  cross  and  take  up  position  on 
the  other  side.  This  was  the  first  striking  instance  of  that 
extreme  inequality  between  the  two  kings  in  point  of  ability 
and  energy  which  was  before  long  to  produce  results  so  fatal 
for  Philip. 

When  Edward,  after  passing  the  Somme,  had  arrived  near 
Crecy,  five  leagues  from  Abbeville,  in  the  countship  of  Pon- 
thieu  which  had  formed  part  of  his  mother  Isabel's  dowry, 
"  4  Halt  we  here,'  said  he  to  his  marshals  ;  4 1  will  go  no  farther 
till  I  have  seen  the  enemy  ;  I  am  on  my  mother's  rightful  in- 
heritance which  was  given  her  on  her  marriage  ;  I  will  defend 
it  against  mine  adversary,  Philip  of  Valois ; '  and  he  rested  in 
the  open  fields,  he  and  all  his  men,  and  made  his  marshals  mark 
well  the  ground  where  they  would  set  their  battle  in  array." 
Philip,  on  his  side,  had  moved  to  Abbeville,  where  all  his  men 
came  and  joined  him,  and  whence  he  sent  out  scouts  "  to  learn 


Chap.  XX.]         THE  HUNDRED  YEARS'   WAR.  303 

the  truth  about  the  English.  When  he  knew  that  they  were 
resting  in  the  open  fields  near  Cre*cy  and  showed  that  they  were 
awaiting  their  enemies,  the  King  of  France  was  very  joyful,  and 
said  that,  please  God,  they  should  fight  him  on  the  morrow  [the 
day  after  Friday,  August  25,  1346].  He  that  day  bade  to 
supper  all  the  high-born  princes  who  were  at  Abbeville.  They 
were  all  in  great  spirits  and  had  great  talk  of  arms,  and  after 
supper  the  king  prayed  all  the  lords  to  be  all  of  them, 
one  toward  another,  friendly  and  courteous,  without  envy, 
hatred,  and  pride,  and  every  one  made  him  a  promise  thereof. 
On  the  same  day  of  Friday  the  King  of  England  also  gave  a 
supper  to  the  earls  and  barons  of  his  army,  made  them  great 
cheer,  and  then  sent  them  away  to  rest,  which  they  did.  When 
all  the  company  had  gone,  he  entered  into  his  oratory,  and  fell 
on  his  knees  before  the  altar,  praying  devoutly  that  God  would 
permit  him  on  the  morrow,  if  he  should  fight,  to  come  out  of 
the  business  with  honor ;  after  which,  about  midnight,  he  went 
and  lay  down.  On  the  morrow  he  rose  pretty  early,  for  good 
reason,  heard  mass  with  the  Prince  of  Wales,  his  son,  and  both 
of  them  communicated.  The  majority  of  his  men  confessed 
and  put  themselves  in  good  case.  After  mass  the  king  com- 
manded all  to  get  on  their  arms  and  take  their  places  in  the 
field  according  as  he  had  assigned  them  the  day  before." 
Edward  had  divided  his  army  into  three  bodies ;  he  had  put 
the  first,  forming  the  van,  under  the  orders  of  the  young  Prince 
of  Wales,  having  about  him  the  best  and  most  tried  warriors  ; 
the  second  had  for  commanders  earls  and  barons  in  whom  the 
king  had  confidence  ;  and  the  third,  the  reserve,  he  commanded 
in  person.  Having  thus  made  his  arrangements,  Edward, 
mounted  on  a  little  palfrey,  with  a  white  staff  in  his  hand 
and  his  marshals  in  his  train,  rode  at  a  foot-pace  from  rank 
to  rank,  exhorting  all  his  men,  officers  and  privates,  to  stoutly 
defend  his  right  and  do  their  duty  ;  and  "  he  said  these  words 
to  them,"  says  Froissart,  "  with  so  bright  a  smile  and  so  joyous 
a  mien  that  whoso  had  before  been  disheartened  felt  reheartened 


304  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.      [Chap.  XX. 

on  seeing  and  hearing  him."  Having  finished  his  ride,  Edward 
went  back  to  his  own  division,  giving  orders  for  all  his  folk  to 
eat  their  fill  and  drink  one  draught :  which  they  did.  "  And 
then  they  sat  down  all  of  them  on  the  ground,  with  their  head- 
pieces and  their  bows  in  front  of  them,  resting  themselves 
in  order  to  be  more  fresh  and  cool  when  the  enemy  should 
come." 

Philip  also  set  himself  in  motion  on  Saturday,  the  26th  of 
August,  and,  after  having  heard  mass,  marched  out  from  Abbe- 
ville with  all  his  barons.  "  There  was  so  great  a  throng  of 
men-at-arms  there,"  says  Froissart,  "  that  it  were  a  marvel  to 
think  on,  and  the  king  rode  mighty  gently  to  wait  for  all  his 
folk."  When  they  were  two  leagues  from  Abbeville,  one  of 
them  that  were  with  him  said,  "  Sir,  it  were  well  to  put  your 
lines  in  order  of  battle,  and  to  send  three  or  four  of  your  knights 
to  ride  forward  and  observe  the  enemy  and  in  what  condition 
they  be."  So  four  knights  pushed  forward  to  within  sight  of 
the  English,  and,  returning  immediately  to  the  king,  whom  they 
could  not  approach  without  breaking  the  host  that  encompassed 
him,  they  said  by  the  mouth  of  one  of  them,  "  Know,  sir,  that 
the  English  be  halted,  well  and  regularly,  in  three  lines  of 
battle,  and  show  no  sign  of  meaning  to  fly,  but  await  your 
coming.  For  my  part,  my  counsel  is  that  you  halt  all  your 
men,  and  rest  them  in  the  fields  throughout  this  day.  Before 
the  hindermost  can  come  up,  and  before  your  lines  of  battle  are 
set  in  order,  it  will  be  late  ;  your  men  will  be  tired  and  in 
disarray ;  and  you  will  find  the  enemy  cool  and  fresh.  To- 
morrow morning  you  will  be  better  able  to  dispose  your  men 
and  determine  in  what  quarter  it  will  be  expedient  to  attack  the 
enemy.  Sure  may  you  be  that  they  will  await  you."  This 
counsel  was  well  pleasing  to  the  King  of  France,  and  he  com- 
manded that  thus  it  should  be.  "  The  two  marshals  rode  one 
to  the  front  and  the  other  to  the  rear  with  orders  to  the  ban- 
nerets, 4Halt,  banners,  by  command  of  the  king,  in  the  name 
of  God  and  St.  Denis ! '     At  this  order  those  who  were  fore- 


Chap.  XX.]         THE  HUNDRED  YEARS'   WAR.  305 

most  halted,  but  not  those  who  were  hindermost,  continuing  to 
ride  forward  and  saying  that  they  would  not  halt  until  they  were 
as  much  to  the  front  as  the  foremost  were.  Neither  the  king 
nor  his  marshals  could  get  the  mastery  of  their  men,  for  there 
was  so  goodly  a  number  of  great  lords  that  each  was  minded  to 
show  his  own  might.  There  was,  besides,  in  the  fields,  so 
goodly  a  number  of  common  people  that  all  the  roads  between 
Abbeville  and  Cre'cy  were  covered  with  them  ;  and  when  these 
folk  thought  themselves  near  the  enemy,  they  drew  their 
swords,  shouting,  '  Death !  death !  '  And  not  a  soul  did  they 
see." 

"  When  the  English  saw  the  French  approaching,  they  rose 
up  in  fine  order  and  ranged  themselves  in  their  lines  of  battle, 
that  of  the  Prince  of  Wales  right  in  front,  and  the  Earls  of 
Northampton  and  Arundel,  who  commanded  the  second,  took 
up  their  place  on  the  wing,  right  orderly  and  all  ready  to 
support  the  prince,  if  need  should  be.  Well,  the  lords,  kings, 
dukes,  counts,  and  barons  of  the  French  came  not  up  all 
together,  but  one  in  front  and  another  behind,  without  plan 
or  orderliness.  When  King  Philip  arrived  at  the  spot  where 
the  English  were  thus  halted,  and  saw  them,  the  blood  boiled 
within  him,  for  he  hated  them,  and  he  said  to  his  marshals, 
4  Let  our  Genoese  pass  to  the  front  and  begin  the  battle,  in  the 
name  of  God  and  St.  Denis.'  There  were  there  fifteen  thou- 
sand of  these  said  Genoese  bowmen  ;  but  they  were  sore  tired 
with  going  a-foot  that  day  more  than  six  leagues  and  fully 
armed,  and  they  said  to  their  commanders  that  they  were  not 
prepared  to  do  any  great  feat  of  battle.  '  To  be  saddled  with 
such  a  scum  as  this  that  fails  you  in  the  hour  of  need ! '  said 
the  Duke  d'Alen§on  on  hearing  those  words.  Whilst  the 
Genoese  were  holding  back,  there  fell  from  heaven  a  rain, 
heavy  -and  thick,  with  thunder  and  lightning  very  mighty  and 
terrible.  Before  long,  however,  the  air  began  to  clear  and  the 
sun  to  shine.  The  French  had  it  right  in  their  eyes  and  the 
English   at  their  backs.      When  the   Genoese   had  recovered 

vol.  ii.  39 


306  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.      [Chap.  XX. 

themselves  and  got  together,  they  advanced  upon  the  English 
with  loud  shouts,  so  as  to  strike  dismay ;  but  the  English  kept 
quite  quiet,  and  showed  no  sign  of  it.  Then  the  Genoese  bent 
their  cross-bows  and  began  to  shoot.  The  English,  making 
one  step  forward,  let  fly  their  arrows,  which  came  down  so 
thick  upon  the  Genoese  that  it  looked  like  a  fall  of  snow. 
The  Genoese,  galled  and  discomfited,  began  to  fall  back. 
Between  them  and  the  main  body  of  the  French  was  a  great 
hedge  of  men-at-arms  who  were  watching  their  proceedings. 
When  the  King  of  France  saw  his  bowmen  thus  in  disorder  he 
shouted  to  the  men-at-arms,  '  Up  now  and  slay  all  this  scum,  for 
it  blocks  our  way  and  hinders  us  from  getting  forward.'  " 
Then  the  French,  on  every  side,  struck  out  at  the  Genoese,  at 
whom  the  English  archers  continued  to  shoot. 

"  Thus  began  the  battle  between  Broye  and  Crdcy,  at  the 
hour  of  vespers."  The  French,  as  they  came  up,  were  already 
tired  and  in  great  disorder :  "  howbeit  so  many  valiant  men 
and  good  knights  kept  ever  riding  forward  for  their  honor's 
sake,  and  preferred  rather  to  die  than  that  a  base  flight  should 
be  cast  in  their  teeth."  A  fierce  combat  took  place  between 
them  and  the  division  of  the  Prince  of  Wales.  Thither  pene- 
trated the  Count  d'Alengon  and  the  Count  of  Flanders  with 
their  followers,  round  the  flank  of  the  English  archers;  and 
the  King  of  France,  who  was  foaming  with  displeasure  and 
wrath,  rode  forward  to  join  his  brother  D'Alengon,  but  there 
was  so  great  a  hedge  of  archers  and  men-at-arms  mingled 
together  that  he  could  never  get  past.  Thomas  of  Norwich, 
a  knight  serving  under  the  Prince  of  Wales,  was  sent  to  the 
King  of  England  to  ask  him  for  help.  "  '  Sir  Thomas,'  said 
the  king,  '  is  my  son  dead  or  unhorsed,  or  so  wounded  that  he 
cannot  help  himself?'  'Not  so,  my  lord,  please  God;  but  he 
is  fighting  against  great  odds,  and  is  like  to  have  need  of  your 
help.'  '  Sir  Thomas,'  replied  the  king,  « return  to  them  who 
sent  you,  and  tell  them  from  me  not  to  send  for  me,  whatever 
chance  befall  them,  so  long  as  my  son  is  alive,  and  tell  them 


Chap.  XX.]  THE  HUNDRED  YEARS'   WAR.  307 

that  I  bid  them  let  the  lad  win  his  spurs  ;  for  I  wish,  if  God  so 
deem,  that  the  day  should  be  his,  and  the  honor  thereof  remain 
to  him  and  to  those  to  whom  I  have  given  him  in  charge.'  The 
knight  returned  with  this  answer  to  his  chiefs  ;  and  it  encour- 
aged them  greatly,  and  they  repented  within  themselves  for 
that  they  had  sent  him  to  the  king."  Warlike  ardor,  if  not 
ability  and  prudence,  was  the  same  on  both  sides.  Philip's 
faithful  ally,  John  of  Luxembourg,  King  of  Bohemia,  had  come 
thither,  blind  as  he  was,  with  his  son  Charles  and  his  knights ; 
and  when  he  knew  that  the  battle  had  begun  he  asked  those 
who  were  near  him  how  it  was  going  on.  "  '  My  lord,'  they 
said,  '  the  Genoese  are  discomfited,  and  the  king  has  given 
orders  to  slay  them  all ;  and  all  the  while  between  our  folk 
and  them  there  is  so  great  disorder  that  they  stumble  one  over 
another  and  hinder  us  greatly.'  4  Ha  ! '  said  the  king,  '  that  is 
an  ill  sign  for  us ;  where  is  Sir  Charles,  my  son  ?  '  '  My  lord, 
we  know  not ;  we  have  reason  to  believe  that  he  is  elsewhere 
in  the  fight.'  '  Sirs,'  replied  the  old  king,  '  ye  are  my  liegemen, 
my  friends,  and  my  comrades  ;  I  pray  you  and  require  you  to 
lead  me  so  far  to  the  front  in  the  work  of  this  day  that  I  may 
strike  a  blow  with  my  sword ;  it  shall  not  be  said  that  I  came 
hither  to  do  nought.'  So  his  train,  who  loved  his  honor  and 
their  own  advancement,"  says  Froissart,  "  did  his  bidding.  For 
to  acquit  themselves  of  their  duty,  and  that  they  might  not  lose 
him  in  the  throng,  they  tied  themselves  all  together  by  the  reins 
of  their  horses,  and  set  the  king,  their  lord,  right  in  front,  that 
he  might  the  better  accomplish  his  desire,  and  thus  they  bore 
down  on  the  enemy.  And  the  king  went  so  far  forward  that 
he  struck  a  good  blow,  yea,  three  and  four ;  and  so  did  all 
those  who  were  with  him.  And  they  served  him  so  well  and 
charged  so  well  forward  upon  the  English,  that  all  fell  there 
and  were  found  next  day  on  the  spot  around  their  lord,  and 
their  horses  tied  together." 

"  The    King   of  France,"    continues    Froissart,    "  had  great 
anguish  at  heart  when  he  saw  his  men  thus  discomfited  and 


308  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.      [Chap.  XX. 

falling  one  after  another  before  a  handful  of  folk  as  the  English 
were.  He  asked  counsel  of  Sir  John  of  Hainault,  who  was  near 
him  and  who  said  to  him,  4  Truly,  sir,  I  can  give  you  no  better 
counsel  than  that  you  should  withdraw  and  place  yourself  in 
safety,  for  I  see  no  remedy  here.  It  will  soon  be  late ;  and 
then  you  would  be  as  likely  to  ride  upon  your  enemies  as 
amongst  your  friends,  and  so  be  lost.'  Late  in  the  evening,  at 
nightfall,  King  Philip  left  the  field  with  a  heavy  heart  —  and  for 
good  cause  ;  he  had  just  five  barons  with  him,  and  no  more ! 
He  rode,  quite  broken-hearted,  to  the  castle  of  Broye.  When 
he  came  to  the  gate,  he  found  it  shut  and  the  bridge  drawn  up, 
for  it  was  fully  night,  and  was  very  dark  and  thick.  The  king 
had  the  castellan  summoned,  who  came  forward  on  the  battle- 
ments and  cried  aloud,  4  Who's  there  ?  who  knocks  at  such  an 
hour?  '  4  Open,  castellan,'  said  Philip  ;  '  it  is  the  unhappy  King 
of  France.'  The  castellan  went  out  as  soon  as  he  recognized 
the  voice  of  the  King  of  France  ;  and  he  well  knew  already  that 
they  had  been  discomfited,  from  some  fugitives  who  had  passed 
at  the  foot  of  the  castle.  He  let  down  the  bridge  and  opened 
the  gate.  Then  the  king,  with  his  following,  went  in,  and 
remained  there  up  to  midnight,  for  the  king  did  not  care  to 
stay  and  shut  himself  up  therein.  He  drank  a  draught,  and  so 
did  they  who  were  with  him ;  then  they  mounted  to  horse,  took 
guides  to  conduct  them,  and  rode  in  such  wise  that  at  break  of 
day  they  entered  the  good  city  of  Amiens.  There  the  king 
halted,  took  up  his  quarters  in  an  abbey,  and  said  that  he 
would  go  no  farther  until  he  knew  the  truth  about  his  men, 
which  of  them  were  left  on  the  field  and  which  had  escaped." 
Whilst  Philip,  with  all  speed,  was  on  the  road  back  to  Paris 
with  his  army  as  disheartened  as  its  king,  and  more  disorderly 
in  retreat  than  it  had  been  in  battle,  Edward  was  hastening, 
with  ardor  and  intelligence,  to  reap  the  fruits  of  his  victory. 
In  the  difficult  war  of  conquest  he  had  undertaken,  what  was 
clearly  of  most  importance  to  him  was  to  possess  on  the  coast 
of  France,  as  near  as  possible  to  England,  a  place  which  he 


Chap.  XX.]  THE  HUNDRED   YEARS'   WAR.  309 

might  make,  in  his  operations  by  land  and  sea,  a  point  of  arrival 
and  departure,  of  occupancy,  of  provisioning,  and  of  secure 
refuge.  Calais  exactly  fulfilled  these  conditions.  It  was  a  nat- 
ural harbor,  protected,  for  many  centuries  past,  by  two  huge 
towers,  of  which  one,  it  is  said,  was  built  by  the  Emperor  Calig- 
ula and  the  other  by  Charlemagne  ;  it  had  been  deepened  and 
improved,  at  the  end  of  the  tenth  century,  by  Baldwin  IV., 
Count  of  Flanders,  and  in  the  thirteenth  by  Philip  of  France, 
called  Toughskin  (Hurepel),  Count  of  Boulogne ;  and,  in  the 
fourteenth,  it  had  become  an  important  city,  surrounded  by  a 
strong  wall  of  circumvallation,  and  having  erected  in  its  midst 
a  huge  keep,  furnished  with  bastions  and  towers,  which  was 
called  the  Castle.  On  arriving  before  the  place,  September  3, 
1346,  Edward  "  immediately  had  built  all  round  it,"  says 
Froissart,  "  houses  and  dwelling-places  of  solid  carpentry,  and 
arranged  in  streets  as  if  he  were  to  remain  there  for  ten  or 
twelve  years,  for  his  intention  was  not  to  leave  it  winter  or  sum- 
mer, whatever  time  and  whatever  trouble  he  must  spend  and 
take.  He  called  this  new  town  Villeneuve  la  Hardie  ;  and  he 
had  therein  all  things  necessary  for  an  army,  and  more  too,  as  a 
place  appointed  for  the  holding  of  a  market  on  Wednesday  and 
Saturday ;  and  therein  were  mercers'  shops,  and  butchers'  shops, 
and  stores  for  the  sale  of  cloth,  and  bread,  and  all  other  neces- 
saries. King  Edward  did  not  have  the  city  of  Calais  assaulted 
by  his  men,  well  knowing  that  he  would  lose  his  pains,  but 
said  he  would  starve  it  out,  however  long  a  time  it  might  cost 
him,  if  King  Philip  of  France  did  not  come  to  fight  him  again, 
and  raise  the  siege." 

Calais  had  for  its  governor  John  de  Vienne,  a  valiant  and 
faithful  Burgundian  knight,  "the  which,  seeing,"  says  Frois- 
sart, "  that  the  King  of  England  was  making  every  sacrifice  to 
keep  up  the  siege,  ordered  that  all  sorts  of  small  folk,  who  had 
no  provisions,  should  quit  the  city  without  further  notice.  They 
went  forth  on  a  Wednesday  morning,  men,  women,  and  chil- 
dren, more  than  seventeen  hundred  of  them,  and  passed  through 


310  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF  FRANCE.      [Chap.  XX. 

King  Edward's  army.  They  were  asked  why  they  were  leav- 
ing ;  and  they  answered,  because  they  had  no  means  of  living. 
Then  the  king  permitted  them  to  pass,  and  caused  to  be  given 
to  all  of  them,  male  and  female,  a  hearty  dinner,  and  after 
dinner  two  shillings  apiece,  the  which  grace  was  commended 
as  very  handsome  ;  and  so  indeed  it  was."  Edward  probably 
hoped  that  his  generosity  would  produce,  in  the  town  itself 
which  remained  in  a  state  of  siege,  a  favorable  impression ;  but 
he  had  to  do  with  a  population  ardently  warlike  and  patriotic, 
burghers  as  well  as  knights.  They  endured  for  eleven  months 
all  the  sufferings  arising  from  isolation  and  famine ;  though, 
from  time  to  time,  fishermen  and  seamen  in  their  neighborhood, 
and  amongst  others  two  seamen  of  Abbeville,  the  names  of 
whom  have  been  preserved  in  history,  Marant  and  Mestriel, 
succeeded  in  getting  victuals  in  to  them.  The  King  of  France 
made  two  attempts  to  relieve  them.  On  the  20th  of  May,  1347, 
he  assembled  his  troops  at  Amiens ;  but  they  were  not  ready  to 
march  till  about  the  middle  of  July,  and  as  long  before  as  the 
23d  of  June  a  French  fleet  of  ten  galleys  and  thirty-five  trans- 
ports had  been  driven  off  by  the  English.  John  de  Vienne 
wrote  to  Philip,  "  Everything  has  been  eaten,  cats,  dogs,  and 
horses,  and  we  can  no  longer  find  victual  in  the  town  unless 
we  eat  human  flesh.  ...  If  we  have  not  speedy  succor,  we  will 
issue  forth  from  the  town  to  fight,  whether  to  live  or  die,  for 
we  would  rather  die  honorably  in  the  field  than  eat  one  another. 
...  If  a  remedy  be  not  soon  applied,  you  will  never  more  have 
letter  from  me,  and  the  town  will  be  lost  as  well  as  we  who  are 
in  it.  May  our  Lord  grant  you  a  happy  life  and  a  long,  and  put 
you  in  such  a  disposition  that,  if  we  die  for  your  sake,  you  may 
settle  the  account  therefor  with  our  heirs !  "  On  the  27th  of 
July  Philip  arrived  in  person  before  Calais.  If  Froissart  can  be 
trusted,  "  he  had  with  him  full  two  hundred  thousand  men,  and 
these  French  rode  up  with  banners  flying  as  if  to  fight,  and  it 
was  a  fine  sight  to  see  such  puissant  array ;  and  so,  when  they 
of  Calais  who  were  on  the  walls  saw  them  appear  and  their 


Chap.  XX.]        THE   HUNDRED   YEARS'   WAR.  311 

banners  floating  on  the  breeze,  they  had  great  joy,  and  believed 
that  they  were  going  to  be  soon  delivered  !  But  when  they  saw 
camping  and  tenting  going  forward  they  were  more  angered 
than  before,  for  it  seemed  to  them  an  evil  sign."  The  marshals 
of  France  went  about  everywhere  looking  for  a  passage,  and 
they  reported  that  it  was  nowhere  possible  to  open  a  road  with- 
out exposing  the  army  to  loss,  so  well  all  the  approaches  to  the 
place,  by  sea  and  land,  were  guarded  by  the  English.  The 
pope's  two  legates,  who  had  accompanied  King  Philip,  tried  in 
vain  to  open  negotiations.  Philip  sent  four  knights  to  the  King 
of  England  to  urge  him  to  appoint  a  place  where  a  battle  might 
be  fought  without  advantage  on  either  side ;  but,  "  Sirs," 
answered  Edward,  %<  I  have  been  here  nigh  upon  a  year,  and 
have  been  at  heavy  charges  by  it ;  and  having  done  so  much 
that  before  long  I  shall  be  master  of  Calais,  I  will  by  no  means 
retard  my  conquest  which  I  have  so  much  desired.  Let  mine 
adversary  and  his  people  find  out  a  way,  as  they  please,  to  fight 
me." 

Other  testimony  would  have  us  believe  that  Edward  accepted 
Philip's  challenge,  and  that  it  was  the  King  of  France  who 
raised  fresh  difficulties  in  consequence  of  which  the  proposed 
battle  did  not  take  place.  Froissart's  account,  however,  seems 
the  more  truth-like  in  itself,  and  more  in  accordance  with  the 
totality  of  facts.  However  that  may  be,  whether  it  were  actual 
powerlessness  or  want  of  spirit  both  on  the  part  of  the  French 
army  and  of  the  king,  Philip,  on  the  2d  of  August,  1347,  took 
the  road  back  to  Amiens,  and  dismissed  all  those  who  had  gone 
with  him,  men-at-arms  and  common  folk. 

When  the  people  of  Calais  saw  that  all  hope  of  a  rescue  had 
slipped  from  them,  they  held  a  council,  resigned  themselves  to 
offer  submission  to  the  King  of  England  rather  than  die  of 
hunger,  and  begged  their  governor,  John  de  Vienne,  to  enter 
into  negotiations  for  that  purpose  with  the  besiegers.  Walter 
de  Manny,  instructed  by  Edward  to  reply  to  these  overtures, 
said  to  John  de  Yienne,  '*  The  king's  intent  is,  that  ye  put  your- 


312  POPULAR  HISTORY  OF   FRANCE.      [Chap.  XX. 

selves  at  his  free  will  to  ransom  or  put  to  death  such  as  it  shall 
please  him ;  the  people  of  Calais  have  caused  him  so  great  dis- 
pleasure, cost  him  so  much  money,  and  lost  him  so  many  men, 
that  it  is  not  astonishing  if  that  weighs  heavily  upon  him.,, 
"Sir  Walter,"  answered  John  de  Vienne,  "it  would  be  too 
hard  a  matter  for  us  if  we  were  to  consent  to  what  you  say. 
There  are  within  here  but  a  small  number  of  us  knights  and 
squires  who  have  loyally  served  our  lord  the  King  of  France 
even  as  you  would  serve  yours  in  like  case  ;  but  we  would  suffer 
greater  evils  than  ever  men  have  had  to  endure  rather  than 
consent  that  the  meanest  'prentice-boy  or  varlet  of  the  town 
should  have  other  evil  than  the  greatest  of  us.  We  pray  you 
be  pleased  to  return  to  the  King  of  England,  and  pray  him  to 
have  pity  upon  us ;  and  you  will  do  us  courtesy."  "  By  my 
faith,"  answered  Walter  de  Manny,  "  I  will  do  it  willingly,  Sir 
John;  and  I  would  that,  by  God's  help,  the  king  might  be 
pleased  to  listen  unto  me."  And  the  brave  English  knight 
reported  to  the  king  the  prayer  of  the  French  knights  in  Calais, 
saying,  "  My  lord,  Sir  John  de  Vienne  told  me  that  they  were  in 
very  sore  extremity  and  famine,  but  that,  rather  than  surrender 
all  to  your  will,  to  live  or  die  as  it  might  please  you,  they  would 
sell  themselves  so  dearly  as  never  did  men-at-arms."  "  I  will 
not  do  otherwise  than  I  have  said,"  answered  the  king.  "  My 
lord,"  replied  Walter,  "you  will  perchance  be  wrong,  for  you 
will  give  us  a  bad  example ;  if  you  should  be  pleased  to  send  us 
to  defend  any  of  your  fortresses,  we  should  of  a  surety  not  go 
willingly  if  you  have  these  people  put  to  death,  for  thus  would 
they  do  to  us  in  like  case."  These  words  caused  Edward  to 
reflect ;  and  the  greater  part  of  the  English  barons  came  to  the 
aid  of  Walter  de  Manny.  "  Sirs,"  said  the  king,  "  I  would  not 
be  all  alone  against  you  all.  Go,  Walter,  to  them  of  Calais,  and 
say  to  the  governor  that  the  greatest  grace  they  can  find  in  my 
sight  is  that  six  of  the  most  notable  burghers  come  forth  from 
their  town,  bare-headed,  bare-footed,  with  ropes  round  their 
necks,  and  with  the  keys  of  the  town  and  castle  in  their  hands. 


Chap.  XX.]         THE  HUNDRED   YEARS'   WAR.  313 

With  them  I  will  do  according  to  my  will,  and  the  rest  I  will 
receive  to  mercy."  "  My  lord,"  said  Walter,  "  I  will  do  it  will- 
ingly." He  returned  to  Calais,  where  John  de  Vienne  was 
awaiting  him,  and  reported  the  king's  decision.  The  governor 
immediately  left  the  ramparts,  went  to  the  market-place,  and 
had  the  bell  rung  to  assemble  the  people.  At  sound  of  the  bell 
men  and  women  came  hurrying  up  hungering  for  news,  as  was 
natural  for  people  so  hard-pressed  by  famine  that  they  could 
not  hold  out  any  longer.  John  de  Vienne  then  repeated  to 
them  what  he  had  just  been  told,  adding  that  there  was  no  other 
way,  and  that  they  would  have  to  make  short  answer.  On  this 
they  all  fell  a-weeping  and  crying  out  so  bitterly  that  no  heart 
in  the  world,  however  hard,  could  have  seen  and  heard  them 
without  pity.  Even  John  de  Vienne  shed  tears.  Then  rose 
up  to  his  feet  the  richest  burgher  of  the  town,  Eustace  de 
St.  Pierre,  who,  at  the  former  council,  had  been  for  capitu- 
lation. "  Sir,"  said  he,  "  it  would  be  great  pity  to  leave  this 
people  to  die,  by  famine  or  otherwise,  when  any  remedy  can 
be  found  against  it ;  and  he  who  should  keep  them  from  such 
a  mishap  would  find  great  favor  in  the  eyes  of  our  Lord.  I 
have  great  hope  to  find  favor  in  the  eyes  of  our  Lord  if  I  die 
to  save  this  people  ;  I  would  fain  be  the  first  herein,  and  I  will 
willingly  place  myself  in  my  shirt  and  bare-headed  and  with  a 
rope  round  my  neck,  at  the  mercy  of  the  King  of  England." 
At  this  speech,  men  and  women  cast  themselves  at  the  feet  of 
Eustace  de  St.  Pierre,  weeping  piteously.  Another  right-hon- 
orable burgher,  who  had  great  possessions  and  two  beautiful 
damsels  for  daughters,  rose  up  and  said  that  he  would  act  com- 
rade to  Eustace  de  St.  Pierre  :  his  name  was  John  d'Aire. 
Then,  for  the  third,  James  de  Vissant,  a  rich  man  in  personalty 
and  realty ;  then  his  brother  Peter  de  Vissant ;  and  then  the 
fifth  and  sixth,  of  whom  none  has  told  the  names.  On  the  5th 
of  August,  1347,  these  six  burghers,  thus  apparelled,  with  cords 
round  their  necks  and  each  with  a  bunch  of  the  keys  of  the 
city  and  of  the  castle,  were  conducted  outside  the  gates  by 
vol.  ii.  40 


314  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.     [Chap.  XX. 

John  de  Vienne,  who  rode  a  small  hackney,  for  he  was  in  such 
ill  plight  that  he  could  not  go  a-foot.  He  gave  them  up  to  Sir 
Walter,  who  was  awaiting  him,  and  said  to  him,  "As  captain 
of  Calais  I  deliver  to  you,  with  the  consent  of  the  poor  people 
of  the  town,  these  six  burghers,  who  are,  I  swear  to  you,  the 
most  honorable  and  notable  in  person,  in  fortune,  and  in  ances- 
try, in  the  town  of  Calais.  I  pray  you  be  pleased  to  pray  the 
King  of  England  that  these  good  folks  be  not  put  to  death."  "  I 
know  not,"  answered  De  Manny,  "  what  my  lord  the  king  may 
mean  to  do  with  them  ;  but  I  promise  you  that  I  will  do  mine 
ability."  When  Sir  Walter  brought  in  the  six  burghers  in  this 
condition,  King  Edward  was  in  his  chamber  with  a  great  com- 
pany of  earls,  barons,  and  knights.  As  soon  as  he  heard  that 
the  folks  of  Calais  were  there  as  he  had  ordered,  he  went  out 
and  stood  in  the  open  space  before  his  hostel  and  all  those  lords 
with  him  ;  and  even  Queen  Philippa  of  England,  who  was  with 
child,  followed  the  king  her  lord.  He  gazed  most  cruelly  on 
those  six  poor  men,  for  he  had  his  heart  possessed  with  so  much 
rage  that  at  first  he  could  not  speak.  When  he  spoke,  he 
commanded  them  to  be  straightway  beheaded,  All  the  barons 
and  knights  who  were  there  prayed  him  to  show  them  mercy. 
"  Gentle  sir,"  said  Walter  de  Manny,  "  restrain  your  wrath ; 
you  have  renown  for  gentleness  and  nobleness ;  be  pleased  to 
do  nought  whereby  it  may  be  diminished  ;  if  you  have  not  pity 
on  yonder  folk,  all  others  will  say  that  it  was  great  cruelty  on 
your  part  to  put  to  death  these  six  honorable  burghers,  who  of 
their  own  free  will  have  put  themselves  at  your  mercy  to  save 
the  others."  The  king  gnashed  his  teeth,  saying,  "  Sir  Walter, 
hold  your  peace  ;  let  them  fetch  hither  my  headsman  ;  the  peo- 
ple of  Calais  have  been  the  death  of  so  many  of  my  men  that  it 
is  but  meet  that  yon  fellows  die  also."  Then,  with  great  humil- 
ity, the  noble  queen,  who  was  very  nigh  her  delivery,  threw 
herself  on  her  knees  at  the  feet  of  the  king,  saying,  "  Ah  ! 
gentle  sir,  if,  as  you  know,  I  have  asked  nothing  of  you  from 
the  time  that  I  crossed  the  sea  in  great  peril,  I  pray  you  humbly 


QUEEN   PHILIPPA  AT  THE   FEET   OF  THE   KING.  —  Page  314. 


A 


.     k- 


. 


Chap.  XX.]  THE   HUNDRED   YEARS'   WAR.  315 

that  as  a  special  boon,  for  the  sake  of  Holy  Mary's  Son  and  for 
the  love  of  me,  you  will  please  to  have  mercy  on  these  six 
men."  The  king  did  not  speak  at  once,  and  fixed  his  eyes  on 
the  good  dame  his  wife,  who  was  weeping  piteously  on  her 
knees.  She  softened  his  stern  heart,  for  he  would  have  been 
loath  to  vex  her  in  the  state  in  which  she  was ;  and  he  said  to 
her,  "  Ha !  dame,  I  had  much  rather  you  had  been  elsewhere 
than  here  ;  but  you  pray  me  such  prayers  that  I  dare  not  refuse 
you,  and  though  it  irks  me  much  to  do  so,  there !  I  give  them 
up  to  you ;  do  with  them  as  you  will."  "  Thanks,  hearty 
thanks,  my  lord,"  said  the  good  queen.  Then  she  rose  up  and 
raised  up  the  six  burghers,  had  the  ropes  taken  off  their  necks, 
and  took  them  with  her  to  her  chamber,  where  she  had  fresh 
clothes  and  dinner  brought  to  them.  Afterwards  she  gave  them 
six  nobles  apiece,  and  had  them  led  out  of  the  host  in  all  safety. 
Edward  was  choleric  and  stern  in  his  choler,  but  judicious 
and  politic.  He  had  sense  enough  to  comprehend  the  impres- 
sions exhibited  around  him  and  to  take  them  into  account.  He 
had  yielded  to  the  free-spoken  representations  of  Walter  de 
Manny  and  to  the  soft  entreaties  of  his  royal  wife.  When  he 
was  master  of  Calais  he  did  not  suffer  himself  to  be  under 
any  illusion  as  to  the  sentiments  of  the  population  he  had  con- 
quered, and,  without  excluding  the  French  from  the  town,  he 
took  great  care  to  mingle  with  them  an  English  population.  He 
had  allowed  a  free  passage  to  the  poor  Calaisians  driven  out  by 
famine;  he  now  fetched  from  London  thirty-six  burghers  of 
position  and  three  hundred  others  of  inferior  condition,  with 
their  wives  and  children,  and  he  granted  to  the  town  thus 
depeopled  and  repeopled  all  such  municipal  and  commercial 
privileges  as  were  likely  to  attract  new  inhabitants  thither. 
But,  at  the  same  time,  he  felt  what  renown  and  importance  a 
devotion  like  that  of  the  six  burghers  of  Calais  could  not  fail 
to  confer  upon  such  men,  and  not  only  did  he  trouble  himself 
to  get  them  back  to  their  own  hearths,  but  on  the  8th  of  Octo- 
ber,  1347,  two  months  after  the  surrender  of  Calais,  he  gave 


316  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF  FRANCE.       [Chap.  XX. 

Eustace  de  St.  Pierre  a  considerable  pension  "  on  account  of  the 
good  services  he  was  to  render  in  the  town  by  maintaining  good 
order  there,"  and  he  re-instated  him,  him  and  his  heirs,  in  pos- 
session of  the  properties  that  had  belonged  to  him.  Eustace, 
more  concerned  for  the  interests  of  his  own  town  than  for  those 
of  France,  and  being  more  of  a  Calaisian  burgher  than  a  nation- 
al patriot,  showed  no  hesitation,  for  all  that  appears,  in  accepting 
this  new  fashion  of  serving  his  native  city,  for  which  he  had 
shown  himself  so  ready  to  die.  He  lived  four  years  as  a  subject 
of  the  King  of  England.  At  his  death,  which  happened  in 
1351,  his  heirs  declared  themselves  faithful  subjects  of  the  King 
of  France,  and  Edward  confiscated  away  from  them  the  posses- 
sions he  had  restored  to  their  predecessor.  Eustace  de  St. 
Pierre's  cousin  and  comrade  in  devotion  to  their  native  town, 
John  d'Aire,  would  not  enter  Calais  again ;  his  property  was 
confiscated,  and  his  house,  the  finest,  it  is  said,  in  the  town, 
was  given  by  King  Edward  to  Queen  Philippa,  who  showed  no 
more  hesitation  in  accepting  it  than  Eustace  in  serving  his  new 
king.  Long-lived  delicacy  of  sentiment  and  conduct  was  rarer 
in  those  rough  and  rude  times  than  heroic  bursts  of  courage  and 
devotion. 

Philip  of  Yalois  tried  to  afford  some  consolation  and  supply 
some  remedy  for  the  misfortune  of  the  Calaisians  banished  from 
their  town.  He  secured  to  them  exemption  from  certain  im- 
posts, no  matter  whither  they  removed,  and  the  possession  of  all 
property  and  inheritances  that  might  fall  to  them,  and  he 
promised  to  confer  upon  them  all  vacant  offices  which  it  might 
suit  them  to  fill.  But  it  was  not  in  his  gift  to  repair,  even 
superficially  and  in  appearance,  the  evils  he  had  not  known  how 
to  prevent  or  combat  to  any  purpose.  The  outset  of  his  reign 
had  been  brilliant  and  prosperous ;  but  his  victory  at  Cassel 
over  the  Flemings  brought  more  cry  than  wool.  He  had  vanity 
enough  to  flaunt  it  rather  than  wit  enough  to  turn  it  to  account. 
He  was  a  prince  of  courts,  and  tournaments,  and  trips,  and 
galas,   whether  regal  or  plebeian  ;  he  was  volatile,  imprudent, 


Chap.  XX.]  THE  HUNDRED  YEARS'  WAR.  317 

haughty,  and  yet  frivolous,  brave  without  ability,  and  despotic 
without  anything  to  show  for  it.  The  battle  of  Crdcy  and  the 
loss  of  Calais  were  reverses  from  which  he  never  even  made  a 
serious  attempt  to  recover ;  he  hastily  concluded  with  Edward 
a  truce,  twice  renewed,  which  served  only  to  consolidate  the 
victor's  successes.  A  calamity  of  European  extent  came  as  an 
addition  to  the  distresses  of  France.  From  1347  to  1349  a 
frightful  disease,  brought  from  Egypt  and  Syria  through  the 
ports  of  Italy,  and  called  the  black  plague  or  the  plague  of  Flor- 
ence^ ravaged  Western  Europe,  especially  Provence  and  Lan- 
guedoc,  where  it  carried  off,  they  say,  two  thirds  of  the  in- 
habitants. Machiavelli  and  Boccaccio  have  described  with  all 
the  force  of  their  genius  the  material  and  moral  effects  of  this 
terrible  plague.  The  court  of  France  suffered  particularly  from 
it,  and  the  famous  object  of  Petrarch's  tender  sonnets,  Laura 
de  Noves,  married  to  Hugh  de  Sade,  fell  a  victim  to  it  at 
Avignon.  Wrhen  the  epidemic  had  well  nigh  disappeared,  the 
survivors,  men  and  women,  princes  and  subjects,  returned  pas- 
sionately to  their  pleasures  and  their  galas  ;  to  mortality,  says 
a  contemporary  chronicler,  succeeded  a  rage  for  marriage  ;  and 
Philip  of  Valois  himself,  now  fifty-eight  years  of  age,  took  for 
his  second  wife  Blanche  of  Navarre,  who  was  only  eighteen. 
She  was  a  sister  of  that  young  King  of  Navarre,  Charles  II., 
who  was  soon  to  get  the  name  of  Charles  the  Bad,  and  to 
become  so  dangerous  an  enemy  for  Philip's  successors.  Seven 
months  after  his  marriage,  and  on  the  22d  of  August,  1350, 
Philip  died  at  Nogent-le-Roi  in  the  Haute-Marne,  strictly  enjoin- 
ing his  son  John  to  maintain  with  vigor  his  well-ascertained 
right  to  the  crown  he  wore,  and  leaving  his  people  bowed 
down  beneath  a  weight  "  of  extortions  so  heavy  that  the  like 
had  never  been  seen  in  the  kingdom  of  France." 

Only  one  happy  event  distinguished  the  close  of  this  reign. 
As  early  as  1343  Philip  had  treated,  on  a  monetary  basis,  with 
Humbert  II.,  Count  and  Dauphin  of  Vienness,  for  the  cession  of 
that  beautiful  province  to  the  crown  of  France  after  the  death 


318  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.       [Chap.  XX. 

of  the  then  possessor.  Humbert,  an  adventurous  and  fantastic 
prince,  plunged,  in  1346,  into  a  crusade  against  the  Turks,  from 
which  he  returned  in  the  following  year  without  having  ob- 
tained any  success.  Tired  of  seeking  adventures  as  well  as  of 
reigning,  he,  on  the  16th  of  July,  1349,  before  a  solemn  assem- 
bly held  at  Lyons,  abdicated  his  principality  in  favor  of  Prince 
Charles  of  France,  grandson  of  Philip  of  Valois,  and  afterwards 
Charles  V.  The  new  dauphin  took  the  oath,  between  the  hands 
of  the  Bishop  of  Grenoble,  to  maintain  the  liberties,  franchises, 
and  privileges  of  the  Dauphiny  ;  and  the  ex-dauphin,  after  hav- 
ing taken  holy  orders  and  passed  successively  through  the  Arch- 
bishopric of  Rheims  and  the  Bishopric  of  Paris,  both  of  which 
he  found  equally  unpalatable,  went  to  die  at  Clermont  in  Au- 
vergne,  in  a  convent  belonging  to  the  order  of  Dominicans, 
whose  habit  he  had  donned. 

In  the  same  year,  on  the  18th  of  April,  1349,  Philip  of  Valois 
bought  of  Jayme  of  Arragon,  the  last  King  of  Majorca,  for  one 
hundred  and  twenty  thousand  golden  crowns,  the  lordship  and 
town  of  Montpellier,  thus  trying  to  repair  to  some  extent,  for 
the  kingdom  of  France,  the  losses  he  had  caused  it. 

His  successor,  John  II.,  called  the  G-ood,  on  no  other  ground 
than  that  he  was  gay,  prodigal,  credulous,  and  devoted  to  his 
favorites,  did  nothing  but  reproduce,  with  aggravations,  the 
faults  and  reverses  of  his  father.  He  had  hardly  become  king 
when  he  witnessed  the  arrival  in  Paris  of  the  Constable  of 
France,  Raoul,  Count  of  Eu  and  of  Guines,  whom  Edward  III. 
had  made  prisoner  at  Caen,  and  who,  after  five  years'  captivity, 
had  just  obtained,  that  is,  purchased,  his  liberty.  Raoul  lost  no 
time  in  hurrying  to  the  side  of  the  new  king,  by  whom  he 
believed  himself  to  be  greatly  beloved.  John,  as  soon  as  he 
perceived  him,  gave  him  a  look,  saying,  "  Count,  come  this  way 
with  me  ;  I  have  to  speak  with  you  aside."  "  Right  willingly, 
my  lord."  The  king  took  him  into  an  apartment,  and  showing 
him  a  letter,  asked,  "  Have  you  ever,  count,  seen  this  letter 
anywhere  but  here?"     The  constable  appeared  astounded  and 


JOHN   II.,   CALLED   THE  GOOD.  —  Page  318. 


« 


X 


Chap.  XX.]  THE   HUNDRED   YEARS'   WAR.  319 

troubled.  "  Ah !  wicked  traitor,"  said  the  king,  "  you  have  well 
deserved  death,  and,  by  my  father's  soul,  it  shall  assuredly  not 
miss  you ;  "  and  he  sent  him  forthwith  to  prison  in  the  tower 
of  the  Louvre.  "  The  lords  and  barons  of  France  were  sadly 
astonished,"  says  Froissart,  "for  they  held  the  count  to  be  a 
good  man  and  true,  and  they  humbly  prayed  the  king  that  he 
would  be  pleased  to  say  wherefore  he  had  imprisoned  their 
cousin,  so  gentle  a  knight,  who  had  toiled  so  much  and  so  much 
lost  for  him  and  for  the  kingdom.  But  the  king  would  not  say 
anything,  save  that  he  would  never  sleep  so  long  as  the  Count 
of  Guines  was  living ;  and  he  had  him  secretly  beheaded  in  the 
castle  of  the  Louvre,  whether  rightly  or  wrongly ;  for  which  the 
king  was  greatly  blamed,  behind  his  back,  by  many  of  the  bar- 
ons of  high  estate  in  the  kingdom  of  France,  and  the  dukes  and 
counts  of  the  border."  Two  months  after  this  execution,  John 
gave  the  office  of  constable  and  a  large  portion  of  Count  Raoul's 
property  to  his  favorite,  Charles  of  Spain,  a  descendant  of  King 
Alphonso  of  Castille  and  naturalized  in  France ;  and  he  added 
thereto  before  long  some  lands  claimed  by  the  King  of  Navarre, 
Charles  the  Bad,  a  nickname  which  at  eighteen  years  of  age  he 
had  already  received  from  his  Navarrese  subjects,  but  which  had 
not  prevented  King  John  from  giving  him  in  marriage  his  own 
daughter,  Joan  of  France.  From  that  moment  a  deep  hatred 
sprang  up  between  the  King  of  Navarre  and  the  favorite.  The 
latter  was  sometimes  disquieted  thereby.  "  Fear  nought  from 
my  son  of  Navarre,"  said  John  ;  "he  durst  not  vex  you,  for,  if 
he  did,  he  would  have  no  greater  enemy  than  myself."  John 
did  not  yet  know  his  son-in-law.  Two  years  later,  in  1354,  his 
favorite,  Charles  of  Spain,  arrived  at  Laigle  in  Normandy.  The 
King  of  Navarre,  having  notice  thereof,  instructed  one  of  his 
agents,  the  Bastard  de  Mareuil,  to  go  with  a  troop  of  men-at- 
arms  and  surprise  him  in  that  town ;  and  he  himself  remained 
outside  the  walls,  awaiting  the  result  of  his  design.  At  break 
of  day,  he  saw  galloping  up  the  Bastard  de  Mareuil,  who  shout- 
ed to  him  from  afar,  "  'Tis  done."     "  What  is  done  ?  "  asked 


320  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.      [Chap.  XX. 

Charles.  "  He  is  dead,"  answered  Mareuil.  King  John's  favor- 
ite had  been  surprised  and  massacred  in  his  bed.  John  burst 
out  into  threats  ;  he  swore  he  would  have  vengeance,  and  made 
preparations  for  war  against  his  son-in-law.  But  the  King  of 
England  promised  his  support  to  the  King  of  Navarre.  Charles 
the  Bad  was  a  bold  and  able  intriguer ;  he  levied  troops  and 
won  over  allies  amongst  the  lords ;  dread  of  seeing  the  recom- 
mencement of  a  war  with  England  gained  ground  ;  and  amongst 
the  people,  and  even  in  the  king's  council,  there  was  a  cry  of 
"  Peace  with  the  King  of  Navarre  !  "  John  took  fright  and 
pretended  to  give  up  his  ideas  of  vengeance  ;  he  received  his 
son-in-law,  who  thanked  him  on  bended  knee.  But  the  king 
gave  him  never  a  word.  The  King  of  Navarre,  uneasy  but  bold 
as  ever,  continued  his  intrigues  for  obtaining  partisans  and  for 
exciting  troubles  and  enmities  against  the  king.  "  I  will  have 
no  master  in  France  but  myself,"  said  John  to  his  confidant : 
"  I  shall  have  no  joy  so  long  as  he  is  living."  His  eldest  son, 
the  young  Duke  of  Normandy,  who  was  at  a  later  period 
Charles  V.,  had  contracted  friendly  relations  with  the  King  of 
Navarre.  On  the  16th  of  April,  1356,  the  two  princes  were 
together  at  a  banquet  in  the  castle  of  Rouen,  as  well  as  the 
Count  d'Harcourt  and  some  other  lords.  All  on  a  sudden  King 
John,  who  had  entered  the  castle  by  a  postern  with  a  troop  of 
men-at-arms,  strode  abruptly  into  the  hall,  preceded  by  the 
Marshal  Arnoul  d'Audenham,  who  held  a  naked  sword  in  his 
hand,  and  said,  "  Let  none  stir,  whatever  he  may  see,  unless 
he  wish  to  fall  by  this  sword."  The  king  went  up  to  the 
table  ;  and  all  rose  as  if  to  do  him  reverence.  John  seized  the 
King  of  Navarre  roughly  by  the  arm,  and  drew  him  towards 
him,  saying,  "  Get  up,  traitor ;  thou  art  not  worthy  to  sit  at  my 
son's  table ;  by  my  father's  soul  I  cannot  think  of  meat  or 
drink  so  long  as  thou  art  living."  A  servant  of  the  King  of 
Navarre,  to  defend  his  master,  drew  his  cutlass,  and  pointed  it 
at  the  breast  of  the  King  of  France,  who  thrust  him  back,  say- 
ing to   his   sergeants,  "  Take    me  this  fellow  and    his    master 


Chap.  XX.]        THE   HUNDRED   YEARS'   WAR.  321 

too."  The  King  of  Navarre  dissolved  in  humble  protestations 
and  repentant  speeches  over  the  assassination  of  the  Constable 
Charles  of  Spain.  "  Go,  traitor,  go,"  answered  John:  "you 
will  need  to  learn  good  rede  or  some  infamous  trick  to  escape 
from  me."  The  young  Duke  of  Normandy  had  thrown  himself 
at  the  feet  of  the  king  his  father,  crying,  "  Ah  !  my  lord,  for 
God's  sake  have  mercy  ;  you  do  me  dishonor  ;  for  what  will  be 
said  of  me,  having  prayed  King  Charles  and  his  barons  to  dine 
with  me,  if  you  do  treat  me  thus  ?  It  will  be  said  that  I  betrayed 
them."  "Hold  your  peace,  Charles,"  answered  his  father: 
"you  know  not  all  I  know."  He  gave  orders  for  the  instant 
removal  of  the  King  of  Navarre,  and  afterwards  of  the  Count 
d'Harcourt  and  three  others  of  those  present  under  arrest. 
"  Rid  us  of  these  men,"  said  he  to  the  captain  of  the  Ribalds, 
forming  the  soldiers  of  his  guard ;  and  the  four  prisoners  were 
actually  beheaded  in  the  king's  presence  outside  Rouen,  in  a 
field  called  the  Field  of  Pardon.  John  was  with  great  difficulty 
prevailed  upon  not  to  mete  out  the  same  measure  to  the  King 
of  Navarre,  who  was  conducted  first  of  all  to  Gaillard  Castle, 
then  to  the  tower  of  the  Louvre,  and  then  to  the  prison  of  the 
Chatelet :  "  and  there,"  says  Froissart,  "  they  put  him  to  all  sorts 
of  discomforts  and  fears,  for  every  day  and  every  night  they 
gave  him  to  understand  that  his  head  would  be  cut  off  at  such 
and  such  an  hour,  or  at  such  and  such  another  he  would  be 
thrown  into  the  Seine  .  .  .  whereupon  he  spoke  so  finely 
and  so  softly  to  his  keepers  that  they  who  were  so  entreating 
him  by  the  command  of  the  King  of  France  had  great  pity  on 
him." 

With  such  violence,  such  absence  of  all  legal  procedure,  such 
a  mixture  of  deceptive  indulgence  and  thoughtless  brutality,  did 
King  John  treat  his  son-in-law,  his  own  daughter,  some  of  his 
principal  barons,  their  relations,  their  friends,  and  the  people 
with  whom  they  were  in  good  credit.  He  compromised  more 
and  more  seriously  every  day  his  own  safety  and  that  of  his 
successor,  by  vexing  more  and  more,   without  destroying,  his 

VOL.  II.  41 


322  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.       [Chap.  XX. 

most  dangerous  enemy.  He  showed  no  greater  prudence  or 
ability  in  the  government  of  his  kingdom.  Always  in  want  of 
money,  because  he  spent  it  foolishly  on  galas  or  presents  to  his 
favorites,  he  had  recourse,  for  the  purpose  of  procuring  it,  at 
one  time  to  the  very  worst  of  all  financial  expedients,  debase- 
ment of  the  coinage ;  at  another,  to  disreputable  imposts,  such 
as  the  tax  upon  salt,  and  upon  the  sale  of  all  kinds  of  merchan- 
dise. In  the  single  year  of  1352  the  value  of  a  silver  mark 
varied  sixteen  times,  from  four  livres  ten  sous  to  eighteen  livres. 
To  meet  the  requirements  of  his  government  and  the  greediness 
of  his  courtiers,  John  twice,  in  1355  and  1356,  convoked  the 
states-general,  to  the  consideration  of  which  we  shall  soon  recur 
in  detail,  and  which  did  not  refuse  him  their  support ;  but  John 
had  not  the  wit  either  to  make  good  use  of  the  powers  with 
which  he  was  furnished,  or  to  inspire  the  states-general  with 
that  confidence  which  alone  could  decide  them  upon  continuing 
their  gifts.  And,  nevertheless,  King  John's  necessities  were 
more  evident  and  more  urgent  than  ever:  war  with  England 
had  begun  again. 

The  truth  is  that,  in  spite  of  the  truce  still  existing,  the  Eng- 
lish, since  the  accession  of  King  John,  had  at  several  points 
resumed  hostilities.  The  disorders  and  dissensions  to  which 
France  was  a  prey,  the  presumptuous  and  hare-brained  inca- 
pacity of  her  new  king,  were,  for  so  ambitious  and  able  a  prince 
as  Edward  III.,  very  strong  temptations.  Nor  did  opportunities 
for  attack,  and  chances  of  success,  fail  him  any  more  than 
temptations.  He  found  in  France,  amongst  the  grandees  of  the 
kingdom,  and  even  at  the  king's  court,  men  disposed  to  desert 
the  cause  of  the  king  and  of  France  to  serve  a  prince  who  had 
more  capacity,  and  who  pretended  to  claim  the  crown  of  France 
as  his  lawful  right.  The  feudal  system  lent  itself  to  ambiguous 
questions  and  doubts  of  conscience :  a  lord  who  had  two  suze- 
rains, and  who,  rightly  or  wrongly,  believed  that  he  had  cause 
of  complaint  against  one  of  them,  was  justified  in  serving  that 
one  who  could  and  would  protect  him.     Personal  interest  and 


Chap.  XX.]         THE   HUNDRED   YEARS'   WAR.  323 

subtle  disputes  soon  make  traitors ;  and  Edward  had  the  ability 
to  discover  them  and  win  them  over.  The  alternate  outbursts 
and  weaknesses  of  John  in  the  ease  of  those  whom  he  suspected ; 
the  snares  he  laid  for  them ;  the  precipitancy  and  cruel  violence 
with  which  he  struck  them  down,  without  form  of  trial,  and 
almost  with  his  own  hand,  forbid  history  to  receive  his  suspicious 
and  his  forcible  proceedings  as  any  kind  of  proof ;  but  amongst 
those  whom  he  accused  there  were  undoubtedly  traitors  to  the 
king  and  to  France.  There  is  one  about  whom  there  can  be  no 
doubt  at  all.  As  early  as  1351,  amidst  all  his  embroilments  and 
all  his  reconciliations  with  his  father-in-law,  Charles  the  Bad, 
King  of  Navarre,  had  concluded  with  Edward  III.  a  secret 
treaty,  whereby,  in  exchange  for  promises  he  received,  he  recog- 
nized his  title  as  King  of  France.  In  1355  his  treason  burst 
forth.  The  King  of  Navarre,  who  had  gone  for  refuge  to  Avi- 
gnon, under  the  protection  of  Pope  Clement  VI.,  crossed  France 
by  English  Aquitaine,  and  went  and  landed  at  Cherbourg, 
which  he  had  an. idea  of  throwing  open  to  the  King  of  England. 
He  once  more  entered  into  communications  with  King  John, 
once  more  obtained  forgiveness  from  him,  and  for  a  while  ap- 
peared detached  from  his  English  alliance.  But  Edward  III. 
had  openly  resumed  his  hostile  attitude ;  and  he  demanded  that 
Aquitaine  and  the  countship  of  Ponthieu,  detached  from  the 
kingdom  of  France,  should  be  ceded  to  him  in  full  sovereignty, 
and  that  Brittany  should  become  all  but  independent.  John 
haughtily  rejected  these  pretensions,  which  were  merely  a  pre- 
text for  recommencing  war.  And  it  recommenced  accordingly, 
and  the  King  of  Navarre  resumed  his  course  of  perfidy.  He 
had  lands  and  castles  in  Normandy,  which  John  put  under 
sequestration,  and  ordered  the  officers  commanding  in  them  to 
deliver  up  to  him.  Six  of  them,  the  commandants  of  the  cas- 
tles of  Cherbourg  and  Evreux,  amongst  others,  refused,  be- 
lieving, no  doubt,  that  in  betraying  France  and  her  king,  they 
were  remaining  faithful  to  their  own  lord. 

At  several  points  in  the  kingdom,  especially  in  the  northern 


324  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.      [Chap.  XX. 

provinces,  the  first  fruits  of  the  war  were  not  favorable  for  the 
English.  King  Edward,  who  had  landed  at  Calais  with  a  body 
of  troops,  made  an  unsuccessful  campaign  in  Artois  and  Picardy, 
and  was  obliged  to  re-embark  for  England,  falling  back  before 
King  John,  whom  he  had  at  one  time  offered  and  at  another 
refused  to  meet  and  fight  at  a  spot  agreed  upon.  But  in  the 
south-west  and  south  of  France,  in  1355  and  1356,  the  Prince 
of  Wales,  at  the  head  of  a  small  picked  army,  and  with  John 
Chandos  for  comrade,  victoriously  overran  Limousin,  Perigord, 
Languedoc,  Auvergne,  Berry,  and  Poitou,  ravaging  the  country 
and  plundering  the  towns  into  which  he  could  force  an  entrance, 
and  the  environs  of  those  that  defended  themselves  behind  their 
walls.  He  met  with  scarcely  any  resistance,  and  he  was  return- 
ing by  way  of  Berry  and  Poitou  back  again  to  Bordeaux,  when 
he  heard  that  King  John,  starting  from  Normandy  with  a  large 
army,  was  advancing  to  give  him  battle.  John,  in  fact,  with 
easy  self-complacency,  and  somewhat  proud  of  his  petty  suc- 
cesses against  King  Edward  in  Picardy,  had  been  in  a  hurry  to 
move  against  the  Prince  of  Wales,  in  hopes  of  forcing  him  also 
to  re-embark  for  England.  He  was  at  the  head  of  forty  or  fifty 
thousand  men,  with  his  four  sons,  twenty-six  dukes  or  counts, 
and  nearly  all  the  baronage  of  France ;  and  such  was  his  confi- 
dence in  this  noble  army,  that  on  crossing  the  Loire  he  dismissed 
the  burgher  forces,  "  which  was  madness  in  him  and  in  those 
who  advised  him,"  said  even  his  contemporaries.  John,  even 
more  than  his  father  Philip,  was  a  king  of  courts,  ever  sur- 
rounded by  his  nobility,  and  caring  little  for  his  people.  Jealous 
of  the  order  of  the  Garter,  lately  instituted  by  Edward  III.  in 
honor  of  the  beautiful  Countess  of  Salisbury,  John  had  created, 
in  1351,  by  way  of  following  suit,  a  brotherhood  called  Our 
Lady  of  the  Noble  House,  or  of  the  Star,  the  knights  of  which, 
to  the  number  of  five  hundred,  had  to  swear,  that  if  they  were 
forced  to  recoil  in  a  battle  they  would  never  yield  to  the  enemy 
more  than  four  acres  of  ground,  and  would  be  slain  rather  than 
retreat.     John  was  destined  to  find  out  before  long  that  neither 


KING  JOHN   AND   HIS   SON   PHILIP  CLAIMED   AS   PRISONERS   BY 
ENGLISH   KNIGHTS  AND  SQUIRES.  —  Page  326. 


Chap.  XX.]        THE   HUNDRED   YEARS'   WAR.  325 

numbers  nor  bravery  can  supply  the  place  of  prudence,  ability, 
and  discipline,  When  the  two  armies  were  close  to  one  another, 
on  the  platform  of  Maupertuis,  two  leagues  to  the  north  of  Poi- 
tiers, two  legates  from  the  pope  came  hurrying  up  from  that 
town,  with  instructions  to  negotiate  peace  between  the  Kings 
of  France,  England,  and  Navarre.  John  consented  to  an  armis- 
tice of  twenty -four  hours.  The  Prince  of  Wales,  seeing  himself 
cut  off  from  Bordeaux  by  forces  very  much  superior  to  his  own, 
— for  he  had  but  eight  or  ten  thousand  men,  —  offered  to  restore 
to  the  King  of  France  "  all  that  he  had  conquered  this  bout, 
both  towns  and  castles,  and  all  the  prisoners  that  he  and  his  had 
taken,  and  to  swear  that,  for  seven  whole  years,  he  would  bear 
arms  no  more  against  the  King  of  France ; "  but  King  John  and 
his  council  would  not  accept  anything  of  the  sort,  saying  that 
"  the  prince  and  a  hundred  of  his  knights  must  come  and  put 
themselves  as  prisoners  in  the  hands  of  the  King  of  France.' ' 
Neither  the  Prince  of  Wales  nor  Chandos  had  any  hesitation  in 
rejecting  such  a  demand:  "God  forbid,"  said  Chandos,  "that 
we  should  go  without  a  fight !  If  we  be  taken  or  discomfited 
by  so  many  fine  men-at-arms,  and  in  so  great  a  host,  we  shall 
incur  no  blame ;  and  if  the  day  be  for  us,  and  fortune  be  pleased 
to  consent  thereto,  we  shall  be  the  most  honored  folk  in  the 
world."  The  battle  took  place  on  the  19th  of  September,  1356, 
in  the  morning.  There  is  no  occasion  to  give  the  details  of  it 
here,  as  was  done  but  lately  in  the  case  of  Crecy ;  we  should 
merely  have  to  tell  an  almost  perfectly  similar  story.  The  three 
battles  which,  from  the  fourteenth  to  the  fifteenth  century,  were 
decisive  as  to  the  fate  of  France,  to  wit,  Cre'cy,  on  the  26th  of 
August,  1346 ;  Poictiers,  on  the  19th  of  September,  1356 ;  and 
Azincourt,  on  the  25th  of  October,  1415,  considered  as  historical 
events,  were  all  alike,  offering  a  spectacle  of  the  same  faults  and 
the  same  reverses,  brought  about  by  the  same  causes.  In  all 
three,  no  matter  what  was  the  difference  in  date,  place,  and  per- 
sons engaged,  it  was  a  case  of  undisciplined  forces,  without  co- 
operation or  order,  and  ill-directed  by  their  commanders,  advan- 


326  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.      [Chap.  XX. 

cing,  bravely  and  one  after  another,  to  get  broken  against  a 
compact  force,  under  strict  command,  and  as  docile  as  heroic. 
From  the  battle  of  Poictiers  we  will  cull  but  that  glorious  feat 
which  was  peculiar  to  it,  and  which  might  be  called  as  unfortu- 
nate as  glorious  if  the  captivity  of  King  John  had  been  a  mis- 
fortune for  France.  Nearly  all  his  army  had  been  beaten  and 
dispersed ;  and  three  of  his  sons,  with  the  eldest,  Charles,  Duke 
of  Normandy,  at  their  head,  had  left  the  field  of  battle  with  the 
wreck  of  the  divisions  they  commanded.  John  still  remained 
there  with  the  knights  of  the  Star,  a  band  of  faithful  knights 
from  Picardy,  Burgundy,  Normandy,  and  Poitou,  his  constable, 
the  Duke  of  Artois,  his  standard-bearer,  Geoffrey  de  Charny, 
and  his  youngest  son  Philip,  a  boy  of  fourteen,  who  clung  obsti- 
nately to  his  side,  sajdng,  every  instant,  "  Father,  ware  right ! 
father,  ware  left ! ' '  The  king  was  surrounded  by  assailants,  of 
whom  some  did  and  some  did  not  know  him,  and  all  of  whom 
kept  shouting,  "  Yield  you !  yield  you !  else  you  die."  The 
banner  of  France  fell  at  his  side ;  for  Geoffrey  de  Charny  was 
slain.  Denis  de  Morbecque,  a  knight  of  St.  Omer,  made  his 
way  up  to  the  king,  and  said  to  him,  in  good  French,  "  Sir,  sir, 
I  pray  you,  yield !  "  "  To  whom  shall  I  yield  me  ?  "  said  John : 
"where  is  my  cousin,  the  Prince  of  Wales?"  "  Sir,  yield  you 
tome;  I  will  bring  you  to  him."  "  Who  are  you?"  "Denis 
de  Morbecque,  a  knight  of  Artois  ;  I  serve  the  King  of  England, 
not  being  able  to  live  in  the  kingdom  of  France,  for  I  have  lost 
all  I  possessed  there."  "  I  yield  me  to  you,"  said  John :  and 
he  gave  his  glove  to  the  knight,  who  led  him  away  "in  the 
midst  of  a  great  press,  for  every  one  was  dragging  the  king, 
saying,  '  I  took  him ! '  and  he  could  not  get  forward,  nor  could 
my  lord  Philip,  his  young  son.  .  .  .  The  king  said  to  them  all, 
4  Sirs,  conduct  me  courteously,  and  quarrel  no  more  together 
about  the  taking  of  me,  for  I  am  rich  and  great  enough  to  make 
every  one  of  you  rich.'  "  Hereupon,  the  two  English  marshals, 
the  Earl  of  Warwick  and  the  Earl  of  Suffolk,  "  seeing  from  afar 
this  throng,  gave  spur  to  their  steeds,  and  came  up,  asking, 


FATHER,  WARE  RIGHT!    FATHER,   WARE  LEFT!"  — Page 


Chap.  XX.]        THE   HUNDRED   YEARS'   WAR.  327 

4  What  is  this  yonder ? '  And  answer  was  made  to  them,  'It  is 
the  King  of  France  who  is  taken,  and  more  than  ten  knights 
and  squires  would  fain  have  him.'  Then  the  two  barons  broke 
through  the  throng  by  dint  of  their  horses,  dismounted  and 
bowed  full  low  before  the  king,  who  was  very  joyful  at  their 
coming,  for  they  saved  him  from  great  danger."  A  very  little 
while  afterwards,  the  two  marshals  "  entered  the  pavilion  of  the 
Prince  of  Wales,  and  made  him  a  present  of  the  King  of 
France ;  the  which  present  the  prince  could  not  but  take  kindly 
as  a  great  and  noble  one,  and  so  truly  he  did,  for  he  bowed  full 
low  before  the  king,  and  received  him  as  king,  properly  and  dis- 
creetly, as  he  well  knew  how  to  do.  .  .  .  When  evening  came, 
the  Prince  of  Wales  gave  a  supper  to  the  King  of  France,  and 
to  my  lord  Philip,  his  son,  and  to  the  greater  part  of  the  barons 
of  France,  who  were  prisoners.  .  .  .  And  the  prince  would  not 
sit  at  the  king's  table  for  all  the  king's  entreaty,  but  waited  as  a 
serving-man  at  the  king's  table,  bending  the  knee  before  him, 
and  saying,  4  Dear  sir,  be  pleased  not  to  put  on  so  sad  a  coun- 
tenance because  it  hath  not  pleased  God  to  consent  this  day  to 
your  wishes,  for  assuredly  my  lord  and  father  will  show  you  all 
the  honor  and  friendship  he  shall  be  able,  and  he  will  come  to 
terms  with  you  so  reasonably  that  ye  shall  remain  good  friends 
forever." 

Henceforth  it  was,  fortunately,  not  on  King  John,  or  on  peace 
or  war  between  him  and  the  King  of  England,  that  the  fate  of 
France  depended. 


328  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.     [Chap.  XXI. 


CHAPTER    XXL 
THE   STATES-GENERAL  OF   THE   FOURTEENTH  CENTURY. 

LET  us  turn  back  a  little,  in  order  to  understand  the 
government  and  position  of  King  John  before  he  en- 
gaged in  the  war  which,  so  far  as  he  was  concerned,  ended  with 
the  battle  of  Poitiers  and  imprisonment  in  England. 

A  valiant  and  loyal  knight,  but  a  frivolous,  hare-brained, 
thoughtless,  prodigal,  and  obstinate  as  well  as  impetuous  prince, 
and  even  more  incapable  than  Philip  of  Valois  in  the  practice 
of  government,  John,  after  having  summoned  at  his  accession, 
in  1351,  a  states-assembly  concerning  which  we  have  no  explicit 
information  left  to  us,  tried  for  a  space  of  four  years  to  suffice  in 
himself  for  all  the  perils,  difficulties,  and  requirements  of  the 
situation  he  had  found  bequeathed  to  him  by  his  father.  For 
a  space  of  four  years,  in  order  to  get  money,  he  debased  the 
coinage,  confiscated  the  goods  and  securities  of  foreign  mer- 
chants, and  stopped  payment  of  his  debts  ;  and  he  went  through 
several  provinces,  treating  with  local  councils  or  magistrates  in 
order  to  obtain  from  them  certain  subsidies  which  he  purchased 
by  granting  them  new  privileges.  He  hoped  by  his  institution 
of  the  order  of  the  Star  to  resuscitate  the  chivalrous  zeal  of  his 
nobility.  All  these  means  were  vain  or  insufficient.  The 
defeat  of  Crecy  and  the  loss  of  Calais  had  caused  discourage- 
ment in  the  kingdom  and  aroused  many  doubts  as  to  the  issue 
of  the  war  with  England.  Defection  and  even  treason  brought 
trouble  into  the  court,  the  councils,  and  even  the  family  of 
John.  To  get  the  better  of  them  he  at  one  time  heaped  favors 
upon  the  men  he   feared,  at  another  he   had   them   arrested, 


Chap.  XXI.]  THE   STATES-GENERAL.  329 

imprisoned,  and  even  beheaded  in  his  presence.  He  gave  his 
daughter  Joan  in  marriage  to  Charles  the  Bad,  King  of  Navarre, 
and,  some  few  months  afterwards,  Charles  himself,  the  real  or 
presumed  head  of  all  the  traitors,  was  seized,  thrown  into 
prison,  and  treated  with  extreme  rigor,  in  spite  of  the  supplica- 
tions of  his  wife,  who  vigorously  took  the  part  of  her  husband 
against  her  father.  After  four  years  thus  consumed  in  fruitless 
endeavors,  by  turns  violently  and  feebly  enforced,  to  reorganize 
an  army  and  a  treasury,  and  to  purchase  fidelity  at  any  price 
or  arbitrarily  strike  down  treason,  John  was  obliged  to  recog- 
nize his  powerlessness  and  to  call  to  his  aid  the  French  nation, 
still  so  imperfectly  formed,  by  convoking  at  Paris,  for  the 
30th  of  November,  1355,  the  states-general  of  Langue  d'oil, 
that  is,  Northern  France,  separated  by  the  Dordogne  and  the 
Garonne  from  Langue  d'oc,  which  had  its  own  assembly  dis- 
tinct.    Auvergne  belonged  to  Langue  a"  oil. 

It  is  certain  that  neither  this  assembly  nor  the  king  who 
convoked  it  had  any  clear  and  fixed  idea  of  what  they  were 
meeting  together  to  do.  The  kingship  was  no  longer  competent 
for  its  own  government  and  its  own  perils  ;  but  it  insisted  none 
the  less,  in  principle,  on  its  own  all  but  unregulated  and  un- 
limited power.  The  assembly  did  not  claim  for  the  country  the 
right  of  self-government,  but  it  had  a  strong  leaven  of  patriotic 
sentiment,  and  at  the  same  time  was  very  much  discontented 
with  the  king's  government :  it  had  equally  at  heart  the  defence 
of  France  against  England  and  against  the  abuses  of  the  kingly 
power.  There  was  no  notion  of  a  social  struggle  and  no  sys- 
tematic idea  of  political  revolution;  a  dangerous  crisis  and 
intolerable  sufferings  constrained  king  and  nation  to  come 
together  in  order  to  make  an  attempt  at  an  understanding 
and  at  a  mutual  exchange  of  the  supports  and  the  reliefs  of 
which  they  were  in  need. 

On  the  2d  of  December,  1355,  the  three  orders,  the  clergy, 
the  nobility,  and  the  deputies  from  the  towns  assembled  at  Paris 
in  the  great  hall  of  the  Parliament.     Peter  de  la  Forest,  Arch- 

TOL.  II.  42 


330  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.     [Chap.  XXL 

bishop  of  Rouen  and  Chancellor  of  France,  asked  them  in  the 
king's  name  "  to  consult  together  about  making  him  a  subven- 
tion which  should  suffice  for  the  expenses  of  the  war,"  and  the 
king  offered  to  "make  a  sound  and  durable  coinage."  The 
tampering  with  the  coinage  was  the  most  pressing  of  the 
grievances  for  which  the  three  orders  solicited  a  remedy.  They 
declared  that  "  they  were  ready  to  live  and  die  with  the  king, 
and  to  put  their  bodies  and  what  they  had  at  his  service  ;  "  and 
they  demanded  authority  to  deliberate  together  —  which  was 
granted  them.  John  de  Craon,  Archbishop  of  Rheims  ;  Walter 
de  Brienne,  Duke  of  Athens ;  and  Stephen  Marcel,  provost 
of  the  tradesmen  of  Paris,  were  to  report  the  result,  as  presi- 
dents, each  of  his  own  order.  The  session  of  the  states  lasted 
not  more  than  a  week.  They  replied  to  the  king  "  that  they 
would  give  him  a  subvention  of  thirty  thousand  men-at-arms 
every  year,"  and,  for  their  pay,  they  voted  an  impost  of  fifty 
hundred  thousand  livres  (five  millions  of  livres),  which  was  to 
be  levied  "  on  all  folks,  of  whatever  condition  they  might  be, 
Church  folks,  nobles,  or  others,"  and  the  gabel  or  tax  on  salt 
"  over  the  whole  kingdom  of  France."  On  separating,  the 
states  appointed  beforehand  two  fresh  sessions  at  which  they 
would  assemble,  "  one,  in  the  month  of  March,  to  estimate 
the  sufficiency  of  the  impost,  and  to  hear,  on  that  subject,  the 
report  of  the  nine  superintendents  charged  with  the  execution 
of  their  decision ;  the  other,  in  the  month  of  November  follow- 
ing, to  examine  into  the  condition  of  the  kingdom." 

They  assembled,  in  fact,  on  the  1st  of  March,  and  on  the 
8th  of  May,  1356  [N.  B.  As  the  year  at  that  time  began  with 
Easter,  the  24th  of  April  was  the  first  day  of  the  year  1356  : 
the  new  style,  however,  is  here  in  every  case  adopted]  ;  but 
they  had  not  the  satisfaction  of  finding  their  authority  generally 
recognized  and  their  patriotic  purpose  effectually  accomplished. 
The  impost  they  had  voted,  notably  the  salt-tax,  had  met  with 
violent  opposition.  "  When  the  news  thereof  reached  Nor- 
mandy," says  Froissart,  "  the  country  was  very  much  astounded 


Chap.  XXL]  THE   STATES-GENERAL.  331 

at  it,  for  they  had  not  learned  to  pay  any  such  thing.  The 
Count  d'Harcourt  told  the  folks  of  Rouen,  where  he  was 
puissant,  that  they  would  be  very  serfs  and  very  wicked  if 
they  agreed  to  this  tax,  and  that,  by  God's  help,  it  should  never 
be  current  in  his  country."  The  King  of  Navarre  used  much 
the  same  language  in  his  countship  of  Evreux.  At  other  spots 
the  mischief  was  still  more  serious.  Close  to  Paris  itself,  at 
Melun,  payment  was  peremptorily  refused ;  and  at  Arras,  on 
the  5th  of  March,  1356,  "  the  commonalty  of  the  town,"  says 
Froissart,  "  rose  upon  the  rich  burghers  and  slew  fourteen  of 
the  most  substantial,  which  was  a  pity  and  loss ;  and  so  it  is 
when  wicked  folk  have  the  upper  hand  of  valiant  men.  How- 
ever, the  people  of  Arras  paid  for  it  afterwards,  for  the  king 
sent  thither  his  cousin,  my  lord  James  of  Bourbon,  who  gave 
orders  to  take  all  them  by  whom  the  sedition  had  been  caused, 
and,  on  the  spot,  had  their  heads  cut  off." 

The  states-general  at  their  re-assembly  on  the  1st  of  March, 
1356,  admitted  the  feebleness  of  their  authority  and  the  insuffi- 
ciency of  their  preceding  votes  for  the  purpose  of  aiding  the 
king  in  the  war.  They  abolished  the  salt-tax  and  the  sales- 
duty,  which  had  met  with  such  opposition  ;  but,  stanch  in  their 
patriotism  and  loyalty,  they  substituted  therefor  an  income-tax, 
imposed  on  every  sort  of  folk,  nobles  or  burghers,  ecclesiastical 
or  lay,  which  was  to  be  levied  "  not  by  the  high  justiciers  of  the 
king,  but  by  the  folks  of  the  three  estates  themselves."  The 
king's  ordinance,  dated  the  12th  of  March,  1356,  which  regulates 
the  execution  of  these  different  measures,  is  (article  10)  to  this 
import :  "  there  shall  be,  in  each  city,  three  deputies,  one  for 
each  estate.  These  deputies  shall  appoint,  in  each  parish, 
collectors,  who  shall  go  into  the  houses  to  receive  the  declaration 
which  the  persons  who  dwell  there  shall  make  touching  their 
property,  their  estate,  and  their  servants.  When  a  declaration 
shall  appear  in  conformity  with  truth,  they  shall  be  content 
therewith  ;  else  they  shall  have  him  who  has  made  it  sent  before 
the  deputies  of  the  city  in  the  district  whereof  he  dwells,  and 


332  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.     [Chap.  XXI. 

the  deputies  shall  cause  him  to  take,  on  this  subject,  such  oaths 
as  they  shall  think  proper.  .  .  .  The  collectors  in  the  villages 
shall  cause  to  be  taken  therein,  in  the  presence  of  the  pastor, 
suitable  oaths  on  the  subject  of  the  declarations.  If,  in  the 
towns  or  villages,  any  one  refuse  to  take  the  oaths  demanded, 
the  collectors  shall  assess  his  property  according  to  general 
opinion,  and  on  the  deposition  of  his  neighbors."  (Ordonnances 
des  Hois  de  France,  t.  iv.  pp.  171-175.) 

In  return  for  so  loyal  and  persevering  a  co-operation  on  the 
part  of  the  states-general,  notwithstanding  the  obstacles  en- 
countered by  their  votes  and  their  agents,  King  John  confirmed 
expressly,  by  an  ordinance  of  May  26,  1356  [art.  9:  Ordon- 
nances  des  Hois  de  France,  t.  iii.  p.  bb'],  all  the  promises  he 
had  made  them  and  all  the  engagements  he  had  entered  into 
with  them  by  his  ordinance  of  December  28,  1355,  given 
immediately  after  their  first  session  (Ibidem,  t.  iii.  pp.  19-37) : 
a  veritable  reformatory  ordinance,  which  enumerated  the  various 
royal  abuses,  administrative,  judicial,  financial,  and  military, 
against  which  there  had  been  a  public  clamor,  and  regulated 
the  manner  of  redressing  them. 

After  these  mutual  concessions  and  promises  the  states- 
general  broke  up,  adjourning  until  the  30th  of  November 
following  (1356)  ;  but  two  months  and  a  half  before  this  time 
King  John,  proud  of  some  success  obtained  by  him  in  Nor- 
mandy and  of  the  brilliant  army  of  knights  remaining  to  him 
after  he  had  dismissed  the  burgher-forces,  rushed,  as  has  been 
said,  with  conceited  impetuosity  to  encounter  the  Prince  of 
Wales,  rejected  with  insolent  demands  the  modest  proposals 
of  withdrawal  made  to  him  by  the  commander  of  the  little 
English  army,  and,  on  the  19th  of  September,  lost,  contrary 
to  all  expectation,  the  lamentable  battle  of  Poitiers.  We  have 
seen  how  he  was  deserted  before  the  close  of  the  action  by  his 
eldest  son,  Prince  Charles,  with  his  body  of  troops,  and  how 
he  himself  remained  with  his  youngest  son,  Prince  Philip,  a  boy 
of  fourteen  years,   a  prisoner  in   the   hands  of  his   victorious 


Chap.  XXI.]  THE   STATES-GENERAL.  333 

enemies.  "  At  this  news,"  says  Froissart,  "  the  kingdom  of 
France  was  greatly  troubled  and  excited,  and  with  good  cause, 
for  it  was  a  right  grievous  blow  and  vexatious  for  all  sorts  of 
folk.  The  wise  men  of  the  kingdom  might  well  predict  that 
great  evils  would  come  of  it,  for  the  king,  their  head,  and  all 
the  chivalry  of  the  kingdom  were  slain  or  taken ;  the  knights 
and  squires  who  came  back  home  were  on  that  account  so  hated 
and  blamed  by  the  commoners  that  they  had  great  difficulty  in 
gaining  admittance  to  the  good  towns ;  and  the  king's  three 
sons  who  had  returned,  Charles,  Louis,  and  John,  were  very 
young  in  years  and  experience,  and  there  was  in  them  such 
small  resource  that  none  of  the  said  lads  liked  to  undertake 
the  government  of  the  said  kingdom." 

The  eldest  of  the  three,  Prince  Charles,  aged  nineteen,  who 
was  called  the  Dauphin  after  the  cession  of  Dauphiny  to  France, 
nevertheless  assumed  the  office,  in  spite  of  his  youth  and  his 
anything  but  glorious  retreat  from  Poitiers.  He  took  the  title 
of  lieutenant  of  the  king,  and  had  hardly  re-entered  Paris,  on 
the  29th  of  September,  when  he  summoned,  for  the  15th  of 
October,  the  states-general  of  Langue  d'oil,  who  met,  in  point 
of  fact,  on  the  17th,  in  the  great  chamber  of  parliament. 
"  Never  was  seen,"  says  the  report  of  their  meeting,  "  an 
assembly  so  numerous,  or  composed  of  wiser  folk."  The 
superior  clergy  were  there  almost  to  a  man ;  the  nobility  had 
lost  too  many  in  front  of  Poitiers  to  be  abundant  at  Paris,  but 
there  were  counted  at  the  assembly  four  hundred  deputies  from 
the  good  towns,  amongst  whom  special  mention  is  made,  in  the 
documents,  of  those  from  Amiens,  Tournay,  Lille,  Arras, 
Troyes,  Auxerre,  and  Sens.  The  total  number  of  members 
at  the  assembly  amounted  to  more  than  eight  hundred. 

The  session  was  opened  by  a  speech  from  the  chancellor, 
Peter  de  la  Forest,  who  called  upon  the  estates  to  aid  the 
dauphin  with  their  counsels  under  the  serious  and  melancholy 
circumstances  of  the  kingdom.  The  three  orders  at  first 
attempted  to  hold  their  deliberations  each  in  a  separate  hall ; 


334  POPULAR  HISTORY  OF  FRANCE.      [Chai>.  XXI. 

but  it  was  not  long  before  they  felt  the  inconveniences  arising 
from  their  number  and  their  separation,  and  they  resolved  to 
choose  from  amongst  each  order  commissioners  who  should 
examine  the  questions  together,  and  afterwards  make  their 
report  and  their  proposals  to  the  general  meeting  of  the 
estates.  Eighty  commissioners  were  accordingly  elected,  and 
set  themselves  to  work.  The  dauphin  appointed  some  of  his 
officers  to  be  present  at  their  meetings,  and  to  furnish  them 
with  such  information  as  they  might  require.  As  early  as  the 
second  day  "  these  officers  were  given  to  understand  that  the 
deputies  would  not  work  whilst  anybody  belonging  to  the 
king's  council  was  with  them."  So  the  officers  withdrew ; 
and  a  few  days  afterwards,  towards  the  end  of  October,  1356, 
the  commissioners  reported  the  result  of  their  conferences  to 
each  of  the  three  orders.  The  general  assembly  adopted  their 
proposals,  and  had  the  dauphin  informed  that  they  were  desirous 
of  a  private  audience.  Charles  repaired,  with  some  of  his 
councillors,  to  the  monastery  of  the  Cordeliers,  where  the 
estates  were  holding  their  sittings,  and  there  he  received  their 
representations.  They  demanded  of  him  "  that  he  should 
deprive  of  their  offices  such  of  the  king's  councillors  as  they 
should  point  out,  have  them  arrested,  and  confiscate  all  their 
property.  Twenty-two  men  of  note,  the  chancellor,  the  premier 
president  of  the  Parliament,  the  king's  stewards,  and  several 
officers  in  the  household  of  the  dauphin  himself,  were  thus 
pointed  out.  They  were  accused  of  having  taken  part  to 
their  own  profit  in  all  the  abuses  for  which  the  government 
was  reproached,  and  of  having  concealed  from  the  king  the 
true  state  of  things  and  the  misery  of  the  people.  The  com- 
missioners elected  by  the  estates  were  to  take  proceedings 
against  them:  if  they  were  found  guilty,  they  were  to  be 
punished  ;  and  if  they  were  innocent,  they  were  at  the  very 
least  to  forfeit  their  offices  and  their  property,  on  account  of 
their  bad  counsels  and  their  bad  administration." 

The  chronicles  of  the  time  are  not  agreed  as  to  these  last  de- 


\v 


Vuif 


CHARLES   THE   BAD   IN   PRISON.  —  Page  335. 


Chap.  XXL]  THE   STATES-GENERAL.  335 

mands.  We  have,  as  regards  the  events  of  this  period,  two 
contemporary  witnesses,  both  full  of  detail,  intelligence,  and 
animation  in  their  narratives,  namely,  Froissart  and  the  con- 
tinuer  of  William  of  Nangis'  Latin  Chronicle,  Froissart  is  in 
general  favorable  to  kings  and  princes;  the  anonymous  chron- 
icler, on  the  contrary,  has  a  somewhat  passionate  bias  towards 
the  popular  party.  Probably  both  of  them  are  often  given  to 
exaggeration  in  their  assertions  and  impressions;  but,  taking 
into  account  none  but  undisputed  facts,  it  is  evident  that  the 
claims  of  the  states-general,  though  they  were,  for  the  most 
part,  legitimate  enough  at  bottom,  by  reason  of  the  number, 
gravity,  and  frequent  recurrence  of  abuses,  were  excessive  and 
violent,  and  produced  the  effect  of  complete  suspension  in  the 
regular  course  of  government  and  justice.  The  dauphin, 
Charles,  was  a  young  man,  of  a  naturally  sound  and  collected 
mind,  but  without  experience,  who  had  hitherto  lived  only  in 
his  father's  court,  and  who  could  not  help  being  deeply  shocked 
and  disquieted  by  such  demands.  He  was  still  more  troubled 
when  the  estates  demanded  that  the  deputies,  under  the  title  of 
reformers,  should  traverse  the  provinces  as  a  check  upon  the 
malversations  of  the  royal  officials,  and  that  twenty-eight  del- 
egates, chosen  from  amongst  the  three  orders,  four  prelates, 
twelve  knights,  and  twelve  burgesses,  should  be  constantly 
placed  near  the  king's  person,  "  with  power  to  do  and  order 
everything  in  the  kingdom,  just  like  the  king  himself,  as  well  for 
the  purpose  of  appointing  and  removing  public  officers  as  for 
other  matters."  It  was  taking  away  the  entire  government 
from  the  crown,  and  putting  it  into  the  hands  of  the  estates. 

The  dauphin's  surprise  and  suspicion  were  still  more  vivid 
when  the  deputies  spoke  to  him  about  setting  at  liberty  the 
King  of  Navarre,  who  had  been  imprisoned  by  King  John,  and 
told  him  that  "  since  this  deed  of  violence  no  good  had  come  to 
the  king  or  the  kingdom,  because  of  the  sin  of  having  impris- 
oned the  said  King  of  Navarre."  And  yet  Charles  the  Bad  was 
already  as  infamous   as   he  has   remained  in   history ;   he   had 


336  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.     [Chap.  XXI. 

labored  to  embroil  the  dauphin  with  his  royal  father ;  and  there 
was  no  plot  or  intrigue,  whether  with  the  malcontents  in  France 
or  with  the  King  of  England,  in  which  he  was  not,  with  good 
reason,  suspected  of  having  been  mixed  up,  and  of  being  ever 
ready  to  be  mixed  up.  He  was  clearly  a  dangerous  enemy  for 
the  public  peace,  as  well  as  for  the  crown,  and,  for  the  states- 
general  who  were  demanding  his  release,  a  bad  associate. 

In  the  face  of  such  demands  and  such  forebodings,  the  dau- 
phin did  all  he  could  to  gain  time.  Before  he  gave  an  answer 
he  must  know,  he  said,  what  subvention  the  states-general 
would  be  willing  to  grant  him.  The  reply  was  a  repetition  of 
the  promise  of  thirty  thousand  men-at-arms,  together  with  an 
enumeration  of  the  several  taxes  whereby  there  was  a  hope  of 
providing  for  the  expense.  But  the  produce  of  these  taxes  was 
so  uncertain,  that  both  parties  doubted  the  worth  of  the  prom- 
ise. Careful  calculation  went  to  prove  that  the  subvention 
would  suffice,  at  the  very  most,  for  the  keep  of  no  more  than 
eight  or  nine  thousand  men.  The  estates  were  urgent  for  a 
speedy  compliance  with  their  demands.  The  dauphin  persisted 
in  his  policy  of  delay.  He  was  threatened  with  a  public  and 
solemn  session,  at  which  all  the  questions  should  be  brought 
before  the  people,  and  which  was  fixed  for  the  3d  of  November. 
Great  was  the  excitement  in  Paris  ;  and  the  people  showed  a 
disposition  to  support  the  estates  at  any  price.  On  the  2d  of 
November,  the  dauphin  summoned  at  the  Louvre  a  meeting  of 
his  councillors  and  of  the  principal  deputies  ;  and  there  he  an- 
nounced that  he  was  obliged  to  set  out  for  Metz,  where  he  was 
going  to  follow  up  the  negotiations  entered  into  with  the  Em- 
peror Charles  IV.  and  Pope  Innocent  VI.  for  the  sake  of  restor- 
ing peace  between  France  and  England.  He  added  that  the 
deputies,  on  returning  for  a  while  to  their  provinces,  should  get 
themselves  enlightened  as  to  the  real  state  of  affairs,  and  that 
he  would  not  fail  to  recall  them  so  soon  as  he  had  any  important 
news  to  tell  them,  and  any  assistance  to  request  of  them. 

It  was  not  without  serious  grounds  that  the  dauphin  attached 


THE   LOUVRE   IN   THE   FOURTEENTH   CENTURY.  —  Page  3& 


Chap.  XXL]  THE   STATES-GENERAL.  337 

so  much  importance  to  gaining  time.  When,  in  the  preceding 
month  of  October,  he  had  summoned  to  Paris  the  states-general 
of  Langue  d'o'il,  he  had  likewise  convoked  at  Toulouse  those  of 
Langue  d'oc,  and  he  was  informed  that  the  latter  had  not  only 
just  voted  a  levy  of  fifty  thousand  men-at-arms,  with  an  ad- 
equate subsidy,  but  that,  in  order  to  show  their  royalist  senti- 
ments, they  had  decreed  a  sort  of  public  mourning,  to  last  for  a 
year,  if  King  John  were  not  released  from  his  captivity.  The 
dauphin's  idea  was  to  summon  other  provincial  assemblies,  from 
which  he  hoped  for  similar  manifestations.  It  was  said,  more- 
over, that  several  deputies,  already  gone  from  Paris,  had  been 
ill  received  in  their  towns,  at  Soissons  amongst  others,  on 
account  of  their  excessive  claims,  and  their  insulting  language 
towards  all  the  king's  councillors.  Under  such  flattering  au- 
spices the  dauphin  set  out,  according  to  the  announcement  he 
had  made,  from  Paris,  on  the  5th  of  December,  1356,  to  go  and 
meet  the  Emperor  Charles  IV.  at  Metz ;  but,  at  his  departure, 
he  committed  exactly  the  fault  which  was  likely  to  do  him  the 
most  harm  at  Paris :  being  in  want  of  money  for  his  costly  trip, 
he  subjected  the  coinage  to  a  fresh  adulteration,  which  took 
effect  five  days  after  his  departure. 

The  leaders  in  Paris  seized  eagerly  upon  so  legitimate  a  griev- 
ance for  the  support  of  their  claims.  As  early  as  the  3d  of  the 
preceding  November,  when  they  were  apprised  of  the  dauphin's 
approaching  departure  for  Metz,  and  the  adjournment  of  their 
sittings,  the  states-general  had  come  to  a  decision  that  their 
remonstrances  and  demands,  summed  up  in  twenty-one  articles, 
should  be  read  in  general  assembly,  and  that  a  recital  of  the 
negotiations  which  had  taken  place  on  that  subject  between  the 
estates  and  the  dauphin  should  be  likewise  drawn  up,  "in  order 
that  all  the  deputies  might  be  able  to  tell  in  their  districts 
wherefore  the  answers  had  not  been  received."  When,  after 
the  dauphin's  departure,  the  new  debased  coins  were  put  in  cir- 
culation, the  people  were  driven  to  an  outbreak  thereby,  and  the 
provost  of  tradesmen,  "  Stephen  Marcel,  hurried  to  the  Louvre 

vol.  ii.  43 


338  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.      [Chap.  XXI. 

to  demand  of  the  Count  of  Anjou,  the  dauphin's  brother  and 
lieutenant,  a  withdrawal  of  the  decree.  Having  obtained  no 
answer,  he  returned  the  next  day,  escorted  by  a  throng  of  the 
inhabitants  of  Paris.  At  length,  on  the  third  day,  the  numbers 
assembled  were  so  considerable  that  the  young  prince  took 
alarm,  and  suspended  the  execution  of  the  decree  until  his 
brother's  return.  For  the  first  time  Stephen  Marcel  had  got 
himself  supported  by  an  outbreak  of  the  people ;  for  the  first 
time  the  mob  had  imposed  its  will  upon  the  ruling  power ;  and 
from  this  day  forth  pacific  and  lawful  resistance  was  trans- 
formed into  a  violent  struggle." 

At  his  re-entry  into  Paris,  on  the  19th  of  January,  1357,  the 
dauphin  attempted  to  once  more  gain  possession  of  some  sort  of 
authority.  He  issued  orders  to  Marcel  and  the  sheriffs  to  re- 
move the  stoppage  they  had  placed  on  the  currency  of  the  new 
coinage.  This  was  to  found  his  opposition  on  the  worst  side  of 
his  case.  "  We  will  do  nothing  of  the  sort,"  replied  Marcel ; 
and  in  a  few  moments,  at  the  provost's  orders,  the  work-people 
left  their  work,  and  shouts  of  "To  arms!"  resounded  through 
the  streets.  The  prince's  councillors  were  threatened  with 
death.  The  dauphin  saw  the  hopelessness  of  a  struggle;  for 
there  were  hardly  a  handful  of  men  left  to  guard  the  Louvre. 
On  the  morrow,  the  20th  of  January,  he  sent  for  Marcel  and 
the  sheriffs  into  the  great  hall  of  parliament,  and  giving  way  on 
almost  every  point,  bound  himself  to  no  longer  issue  new  coin, 
to  remove  from  his  council  the  officers  who  had  been  named  to 
him,  and  even  to  imprison  them  until  the  return  of  his  father, 
who  would  do  full  justice  to  them.  The  estates  were  at  the 
same  time  authorized  to  meet  when  they  pleased :  "  on  all  which 
points  the  provost  of  tradesmen  requested  letters,  which  were 
granted  him;"  and  he  demanded  that  the  dauphin  should  im- 
mediately place  sergeants  in  the  houses  of  those  of  his  council- 
lors who  still  happened  to  be  in  Paris,  and  that  proceedings 
should  be  taken  without  delay  for  making  an  inventory  of  their 
goods,  with  a  view  to  confiscation  of  them. 


Chap.  XXI.]  THE  STATES-GENERAL.  339 

The  estates  met  on  the  5th  of  February.  It  was  not  without 
surprise  that  they  found  themselves  less  numerous  than  they 
had  hitherto  been.  The  deputies  from  the  duchy  of  Burgundy, 
from  the  countships  of  Flanders  and  Alencon,  and  several  nobles 
and  burghers  from  other  provinces,  did  not  repair  to  the  session. 
The  kingdom  was  falling  into  anarchy;  bands  of  plunderers 
roved  hither  and  thither,  threatening  persons  and  ravaging 
lands;  the  magistrates  either  could  not  or  would  not  exercise 
their  authority ;  disquietude  and  disgust  were  gaining  possession 
of  many  honest  folks.  Marcel  and  his  partisans,  having  fallen 
into  somewhat  of  disrepute  and  neglect,  keenly  felt  how  neces- 
sary, and  also  saw  how  easy,  it  was  for  them  to  become  com- 
pletely masters.  They  began  by  drawing  up  a  series  of  prop- 
ositions, which  they  had  distributed  and  spread  abroad  far  and 
wide  in  the  provinces.  On  the  3d  of  March,  they  held  a  public 
meeting,  at  which  the  dauphin  and  his  two  brothers  were  pres- 
ent. A  numerous  throng  filled  the  hall.  The  Bishop  of  Laon, 
Robert  Lecocq,  the  spokesman  of  the  party,  made  a  long  and 
vehement  statement  of  all  the  public  grievances,  and  declared 
that  twenty-two  of  the  king's  officers  should  be  deprived  forever 
of  all  offices,  that  all  the  officers  of  the  kingdom  should  be  pro- 
visionally suspended,  and  that  reformers,  chosen  by  the  estates, 
and  commissioned  by  the  dauphin  himself,  should  go  all  over 
France,  to  hold  inquiries  as  to  these  officers,  and,  according  to 
their  deserts,  either  reinstate  them  in  their  offices  or  condemn 
them.  At  the  same  time,  the  estates  bound  themselves  to  raise 
thirty  thousand  men-at-arms,  whom  they  themselves  would  pay 
and  keep  ;  and  as  the  produce  of  the  impost  voted  for  this  pur- 
pose was  very  uncertain,  they  demanded  their  adjournment  to 
the  fortnight  of  Easter,  and  two  sessions  certain,  for  which  they 
should  be  free  to  fix  the  time,  before  the  15th  of  February  in 
the  following  year.  This  was  simply  to  decree  the  permanence 
of  their  power.  To  all  these  demands  the  dauphin  offered  no 
resistance.  In  the  month  of  March  following,  a  grand  ordi- 
nance, drawn  up  in  sixty-one  articles,  enumerated  all  the  griev- 


340  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.     [Chap.  XXI. 

ances  which  had  been  complained  of,  and  prescribed  the  redress 
for  them.  A  second  ordinance,  regulating  all  that  appertained 
to  the  suspension  of  the  royal  officers,  was  likewise,  as  it  ap- 
pears, drawn  up  at  the  same  time,  but  has  not  come  down  to  us. 
At  last  a  grand  commission  was  appointed,  composed  of  thirty- 
six  members,  twelve  elected  by  each  of  the  three  orders. 
"  These  thirty-six  persons,"  says  Froissart,  "  were  bound  to 
often  meet  together  at  Paris,  for  to  order  the  affairs  of  the  king- 
dom, and  all  kinds  of  matters  were  to  be  disposed  of  by  these 
three  estates,  and  all  prelates,  all  lords,  and  all  commonalties  of 
the  cities  and  good  towns  were  bound  to  be  obedient  to  what 
these  three  estates  should  order."  Having  their  power  thus 
secured  in  their  absence,. the  estates  adjourned  to  the  25th  of 
April. 

The  rumor  of  these  events  reached  Bordeaux,  where,  since 
the  defeat  at  Poitiers,  King  John  had  been  living  as  the  guest 
of  the  Prince  of  Wales,  rather  than  as  a  prisoner  of  the  Eng- 
lish. Amidst  the  galas  and  pleasures  to  which  he  abandoned 
himself,  he  was  indignant  to  learn  that  at  Paris  the  royal  au- 
thority was  ignored,  and  he  sent  three  of  his  comrades  in  cap- 
tivity to  notify  to  the  Parisians  that  he  rejected  all  the  claims  of 
the  estates,  that  he  would  not  have  payment  made  of  the  sub- 
sidy voted  by  them,  and  that  he  forbade  their  meeting  on  the 
25th  of  April  following.  This  strange  manifesto  on  the  part  of 
imprisoned  royalty  excited  in  Paris  such  irritation  amongst  the 
people,  that  the  dauphin  hastily  sent  out  of  the  city  the  king's 
three  envoys,  whose  lives  might  have  been  threatened,  and  de- 
clared to  the  thirty-six  commissioners  of  the  estates  that  the 
subsidy  should  be  raised,  and  that  the  general  assembly  should 
be  perfectly  free  to  meet  at  the  time  it  had  appointed. 

And  it  did  meet  towards  the  end  of  April,  but  in  far  fewer 
numbers  than  had  been  the  case  hitherto,  and  with  more  and 
more  division  from  day  to  day.  Nearly  all  the  nobles  and  eccle- 
siastics were  withdrawing  from  it ;  and  amongst  the  burgesses 
themselves  many  of  the  more  moderate  spirits  were  becoming 


Chap.  XXL]  THE   STATES-GENERAL.  841 

alarmed  at  the  violent  proceedings  of  the  commission  of  the 
thirty-six  delegates,  who,  under  the  direction  of  Stephen  Mar- 
cel, were  becoming  a  small  oligarchy,  little  by  little  usurping 
the  place  of  the  great  national  assembly.  A  cry  was  raised  in 
the  provinces  "against  the  injustice  of  those  chief  governors 
who  were  no  more  than  ten  or  a  dozen; "  and  there  was  a  re- 
fusal to  pay  the  subsidy  voted.  These  symptoms  and  the  dis- 
organization which  was  coming  to  a  head  throughout  the  whole 
kingdom  made  the  dauphin  think  that  the  moment  had  arrived 
for  him  to  seize  the  reins  again.  About  the  middle  of  August, 
1357,  he  sent  for  Marcel  and  three  sheriffs,  accustomed  to  direct 
matters  at  Paris,  and  let  them  know  "  that  he  intended  thence- 
forward to  govern  by  himself,  without  curators."  He  at  the 
same  time  restored  to  office  some  of  the  lately  dismissed  royal 
officers.  The  thirty-six  commissioners  made  a  show  of  submis- 
sion ;  and  their  most  faithful  ecclesiastical  ally,  Robert  Lecocq, 
Bishop  of  Laon,  returned  to  his  diocese.  The  dauphin  left 
Paris  and  went  a  trip  into  some  of  the  provinces,  halting  at  the 
principal  towns,  such  as  Rouen  and  Chartres,  and  everywhere, 
with  intelligent  but  timid  discretion,  making  his  presence  and 
his  will  felt,  not  very  successfully,  however,  as  regarded  the 
re-establishment  of  some  kind  of  order  on  his  route  in  the  name 
of  the  kingship. 

Marcel  and  his  partisans  took  advantage  of  his  absence  to 
shore  up  their  tottering  supremacy.  They  felt  how  important 
it  was  for  them  to  have  a  fresh  meeting  of  the  estates,  whose 
presence  alone  could  restore  strength  to  their  commissioners  ; 
but  the  dauphin  only  could  legally  summon  them.  They, 
therefore,  eagerly  pressed  him  to  return  in  person  to  Paris, 
giving  him  a  promise  that,  if  he  agreed  to  convoke  there  the 
deputies  from  twenty  or  thirty  towns,  they  would  supply  him 
with  the  money  of  which  he  was  in  need,  and  would  say  no 
more  about  the  dismissal  of  royal  officers,  or  about  setting  at 
liberty  the  King  of  Navarre.  The  dauphin,  being  still  young 
and  trustful,  though  he  was  already  discreet  and  reserved,  fell 


342  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.     [Chap.  XXI. 

into  the  snare.  He  returned  to  Paris,  and  summoned  thither, 
for  the  7th  of  November  following,  the  deputies  from  seventy 
towns,  a  sufficient  number  to  give  their  meeting  a  specious 
resemblance  to  the  states-general.  One  circumstance  ought  to 
have  caused  him  some  glimmering  of  suspicion.  At  the  same 
time  that  the  dauphin  was  sending  to  the  deputies  his  letters 
of  convocation,  Marcel  himself  also  sent  to  them,  as  if  he  pos- 
sessed the  right,  either  in  his  own  name  or  in  that  of  the  thirty- 
six  delegate-commissioners,  of  calling  them  together.  But  a 
still  more  serious  matter  came  to  open  the  dauphin's  eyes  to  the 
danger  he  had  fallen  into.  During  the  night  between  the  8th 
and  9th  of  November,  1357,  immediately  after  the  re-opening 
of  the  states,  Charles  the  Bad,  King  of  Navarre,  was  carried 
off  by  a  surprise  from  the  castle  of  Arleux  in  Cambre*sis,  where 
he  had  been  confined ;  and  his  liberators  removed  him  first  of 
all  to  Amiens  and  then  to  Paris  itself,  where  the  popular  party 
gave  him  a  triumphant  reception.  Marcel  and  his  sheriffs  had 
decided  upon  and  prepared,  at  a  private  council,  this  dramatic 
incident,  so  contrary  to  the  promises  they  had  but  lately  made  to 
the  dauphin.  Charles  the  Bad  used  his  deliverance  like  a  skil- 
ful workman ;  the  very  day  after  his  arrival  in  Paris  he  mounted 
a  platform  set  against  the  walls  of  St.  Germain's  abbey,  and 
there,  in  the  presence  of  more  than  ten  thousand  persons, 
burgesses  and  populace,  he  delivered  a  long  speech,  "  seasoned 
with  much  venom,"  says  a  chronicler  of  the  time.  After 
having  denounced  the  wrongs  which  he  had  been  made  to  en- 
dure, he  said,  for  eighteen  months  past,  he  declared  that  he 
would  live  and  die  in  defence  of  the  kingdom  of  France,  giving 
it  to  be  understood  that  "  if  he  were  minded  to  claim  the  crown, 
he  would  soon  show  by  the  laws  of  right  and  wrong  that  he 
was  nearer  to  it  than  the  King  of  England  was."  He  was 
insinuating,  eloquent,  and  an  adept  in  the  art  of  making  truth 
subserve  the  cause  of  falsehood.  The  people  were  moved  by 
his  speech.  The  dauphin  was  obliged  not  only  to  put  up  with 
the  release  and  the  triumph  of  his  most  dangerous .  enemy,  but 


STEPHEN  MARCEL.  —  Page  342. 


Chap.  XXL]  THE  STATES-GENERAL.  343 

to  make  an  outward  show  of  reconciliation  with  him,  and  to  un- 
dertake not  only  to  give  him  back  the  castles  confiscated  after  his 
arrest,  but  "  to  act  towards  him  as  a  good  brother  towards  his 
brother."  These  were  the  exact  words  made  use  of  in  the  dau- 
phin's name,  "  and  without  having  asked  his  pleasure  about  it," 
by  Robert  Lecocq,  Bishop  of  Laon,  who  himself  also  had  returned 
from  his  diocese  to  Paris  at  the  time  of  the  recall  of  the  estates. 
The  consequences  of  this  position  were  not  slow  to  exhibit 
themselves.  Whilst  the  King  of  Navarre  was  re-entering  Paris 
and  the  dauphin  submitting  to  the  necessity  of  a  reconciliation 
with  him,  several  of  the  deputies  who  had  but  lately  returned 
to  the  states-general,  and  amongst  others  nearly  all  those  from 
Champagne  and  Burgundy,  were  going  away  again,  being  un- 
willing either  to  witness  the  triumphal  re-entry  of  Charles  the 
Bad  or  to  share  the  responsibility  for  such  acts  as  they  foresaw. 
Before  long  the  struggle,  or  rather  the  war,  between  the  King 
of  Navarre  and  the  dauphin  broke  out  again ;  several  of  the 
nobles  in  possession  of  the  castles  which  were  to  have  been 
restored  to  Charles  the  Bad,  and  especially  those  of  Breteuil, 
Pacy-sur-Eure,  and  Pont-Audemer,  flatly  refused  to  give  them 
back  to  him ;  and  the  dauphin  was  suspected,  probably  not 
without  reason,  of  having  encouraged  them  in  their  resistance. 
Without  the  walls  of  Paris  it  was  really  war  that  was  going  on 
between  the  two  princes.  Philip  of  Navarre,  brother  of  Charles 
the  Bad,  went  marching  with  bands  of  pillagers  over  Normandy 
and  Anjou,  and  within  a  few  leagues  of  Paris,  declaring  that  he 
had  not  taken,  and  did  not  intend  to  take,  any  part  in  his  broth- 
er's pacific  arrangements,  and  carrying  fire  and  sword  all  through 
the  country.  The  peasantry  from  the  ravaged  districts  were 
overflowing  Paris.  Stephen  Marcel  had  no  mind  to  reject  the 
support  which  many  of  them  brought  him ;  but  they  had  to  be 
fed,  and  the  treasury  was  empty.  The  wreck  of  the  states- 
general,  meeting  on  the  2d  of  January,  1358,  themselves  had 
recourse  to  the  expedient  which  they  had  so  often  and  so  vio- 
lently reproached  the   king  and  the  dauphin  with  employing: 


344  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.     [Chap.  XXI. 

they  notably  depreciated  the  coinage,  allotting  a  fifth  of  the 
profit  to  the  dauphin,  and  retaining  the  other  four  fifths  for  the 
defence  of  the  kingdom.  What  Marcel  and  his  party  called 
the  defence  of  the  kingdom  was  the  works  of  fortification  round 
Paris,  begun  in  October,  1356,  against  the  English,  after  the 
defeat  of  Poitiers,  and  resumed  in  1358  against  the  dauphin's 
party  in  the  neighboring  provinces,  as  well  as  against  the  rob- 
bers that  were  laying  them  waste.  Amidst  all  this  military 
and  popular  excitement  the  dauphin  kept  to  the  Louvre,  having 
about  him  two  thousand  men-at-arms,  whom  he  had  taken  into 
his  pay,  he  said,  solely  "  on  account  of  the  prospect  of  a  war 
with  the  Navarrese."  Before  he  went  and  plunged  into  a  civil 
war  outside  the  gates  of  Paris,  he  resolved  to  make  an  effort  to 
win  back  the  Parisians  themselves  to  his  cause.  He  sent  a  crier 
through  the  city  to  bid  the  people  assemble  in  the  market-place, 
and  thither  he  repaired  on  horseback,  on  the  11th  of  January, 
with  five  or  six  of  his  most  trusty  servants.  The  astonished 
mob  thronged  about  him,  and  he  addressed  them  in  vigorous 
lauguage.  He  meant,  he  said,  to  live  and  die  amongst  the  peo- 
ple of  Paris ;  if  he  was  collecting  his  men-at-arms,  it  was  not 
for  the  purpose  of  plundering  and  oppressing  Paris,  but  that  he 
might  march  against  their  common  enemies ;  and  if  he  had  not 
done  so  sooner,  it  was  because  "  the  folks  who  had  taken  the 
government  gave  him  neither  money  nor  arms ;  but  they  would 
some  day  be  called  to  strict  account  for  it."  The  dauphin  was 
small,  thin,  delicate,  and  of  insignificant  appearance  ;  but  at 
this  juncture  he  displayed  unexpected  boldness  and  eloquence  ; 
the  people  were  deeply  moved ;  and  Marcel  and  his  friends  felt 
that  a  heavy  blow  had  just  been  dealt  them. 

They  hastened  to  respond  with  a  blow  of  another  sort.  It 
was  everywhere  whispered  abroad  that  if  Paris  was  suffering  so 
much  from  civil  war  and  the  irregularities  and  calamities  which 
were  the  concomitants  of  it,  the  fault  lay  with  the  dauphin's 
surroundings,  and  that  his  noble  advisers  deterred  him  from 
measures  which  would   save  the   people   from   their  miseries. 


THE   MURDER   OP  THE    MARSHALS. —Page  345. 


Chap.  XXI]  THE   STATES-GENERAL.  345 

"  Provost  Marcel  and  the  burgesses  of  Paris  took  counsel  to- 
gether and  decided  that  it  would  be  a  good  thing  if  some  of 
those  attendants  on  the  regent  were  to  be  taken  away,  from  the 
midst  of  this  world.  They  all  put  on  caps,  red  on  one  side  and 
blue  on  the  other,  which  they  wore  as  a  sign  of  their  confeder- 
ation in  defence  of  the  common  weal.  This  done,  they  reassem- 
bled in  large  numbers  on  the  22d  of  February,  1358,  with  the 
provost  at  their  head,  and  marched  to  the  palace  where  the  duke 
was  lodged."  This  crowd  encountered  on  its  way,  in  the 
street  called  Juiverie  (Jewry),  the  advocate-general  Regnault 
d'Aci,  one  of  the  twenty-two  royal  officers  denounced  by  the 
estates  in  the  preceding  year  ;  and  he  was  massacred  in  a  pastry- 
cook's shop.  Marcel,  continuing  his  road,  arrived  at  the  palace, 
and  ascended,  followed  by  a  band  of  armed  men,  to  the  apart- 
ments of  the  dauphin,  "  whom  he  requested  very  sharply,"  says 
Froissart,  "  to  restrain  so  many  companies  from  roving  about  on 
all  sides,  damaging  and  plundering  the  country.  The  duke 
replied  that  he  would  do  so  willingly  if  he  had  the  wherewithal 
to  do  it,  but  that  it  was  for  him  who  received  the  dues  belong- 
ing to  the  kingdom  to  discharge  that  duty.  I  know  not  why  or 
how,"  adds  Froissart,  "  but  words  were  multiplied  on  the  part 
of  all,  and  became  very  high."  "  My  lord  duke,"  suddenly  said 
the  provost,  "do  not  alarm  yourself;  but  we  have  somewhat  to 
do  here  ; "  and  turning  towards  his  fellows  in  the  caps,  he  said, 
"  Dearly  beloved,  do  that  for  the  which  ye  are  come."  Imme- 
diately the  Lord  de  Conflans,  Marshal  of  Champagne,  and  Rob- 
ert de  Clermont,  Marshal  of  Normandy,  noble  and  valiant  gen- 
tlemen, and  both  at  the  time  unarmed,  were  massacred  so  close 
to  the  dauphin  and  his  couch,  that  his  robe  was  covered  with 
their  blood.  The  dauphin  shuddered  ;  and  the  rest  of  his  officers 
fled.  "  Take  no  heed,  lord  duke,"  said  Marcel ;  "  you  have 
nought  to  fear."  He  handed  to  the  dauphin  his  own  red  and 
blue  cap,  and  himself  put  on  the  dauphin's,  which  was  of  black 
stuff  with  golden  fringe.  The  corpses  of  the  two  marshals  were 
dragged  into  the  court-yard  of  the  palace,  where  they  remained 
vol.  ii.  44 


346  POPULAR   HISTORY    OF   FRANCE.     [Chap.  XXI. 

until  evening  without  any  one's  daring  to  remove  them ;  and 
Marcel  with  his  fellows  repaired  to  the  mansion-house,  and 
harangued  from  an  open  window  the  mob  collected  on  the 
Place  de  Greve.  "  What  has  been  done  is  for  the  good  and  the 
profit  of  the  kingdom,"  said  he;  "  the  dead  were  false  and 
wicked  traitors."  "We  do  own  it,  and  will  maintain  it!" 
cried  the  people   who  were  about  him. 

The  house  from  which  Marcel  thus  addressed  the  people  was 
his  own  property,  and  was  called  the  Pillar-house.  There  he 
accommodated  the  town-council,  which  had  formerly  held  its 
sittings  in  divers  parlors. 

For  a  month  after  this  triple  murder,  committed  with  such 
official  parade,  Marcel  reigned  dictator  in  Paris.  He  removed 
from  the  council  of  thirty-six  deputies  such  members  as  he  could 
not  rely  upon,  and  introduced  his  own  confidants.  He  cited 
the  council,  thus  modified,  to  express  approval  of  the  blow  just 
struck ;  and  the  deputies,  "  some  from  conviction  and  others 
from  doubt  (that  is,  fear),  answered  that  they  believed  that  for 
what  had  been  done  there  had  been  good  and  just  cause."  The 
King  of  Navarre  was  recalled  from  Nantes  to  Paris,  and  the 
dauphin  was  obliged  to  assign  to  him,  in  the  king's  name,  "asa 
make-up  for  his  losses,"  ten  thousand  livres  a  year  on  landed 
property  in  Languedoc.  Such  was  the  young  prince's  condition 
that,  almost  every  day,  he  was  reduced  to  the  necessity  of  dining 
with  his  most  dangerous  and  most  hypocritical  enemy.  A  man 
of  family,  devoted  to  the  dauphin,  who  was  now  called  regent, 
Philip  de  Repenti  by  name,  lost  his  head  on  the  19th  of  March, 
1358,  on  the  market-place,  for  having  attempted,  with  a  few 
bold  comrades,  "  to  place  the  regent  beyond  the  power  and  the 
reach  of  the  people  of  Paris."  Six  days  afterwards,  however, 
on  the  25th  of  March,  the  dauphin  succeeded  in  escaping,  and 
repaired  first  of  all  to  Senlis,  and  then  to  Provins,  where  he 
found  the  estates  of  Champagne  eager  to  welcome  him.  Mar- 
cel at  once  sent  to  Provins  two  deputies  with  instructions  to 
bind  over  the  three  orders  of  Champagne  "  to  be  at  one  with 


Chap.  XXL]  THE  STATES-GENERAL.  347 

them  of  Paris,  and  not  to  be  astounded  at  what  had  been  done." 
Before  answering,  the  members  of  the  estates  withdrew  into  a 
garden  to  parley  together,  and  sent  to  pray  the  regent  to  come 
and  meet  them.  "  My  lord,"  said  the  Count  de  Braine  to  him 
in  the  name  of  the  nobility,  "  did  you  ever  suffer  any  harm  or 
villany  at  the  hands  of  De  Conflans,  Marshal  of  Champagne, 
for  which  he  deserved  to  be  put  to  death  as  he  hath  been  by 
them  of  Paris?"  The  prince  replied  that  he  firmly  held  and 
believed  that  the  said  marshal  and  Robert  de  Clermont  had  well 
and  loyally  served  and  advised  him.  "  My  lord,"  replied  the 
Count  de  Braine,  "  we  Champagnese  who  are  here  do  thank 
you  for  that  which  you  have  just  said,  and  do  desire  you  to  do 
full  justice  on  those  who  have  put  our  friend  to  death  without 
cause ;  "  and  they  bound  themselves  to  support  him  with  their 
persons  and  their  property,  for  the  chastisement  of  them  who 
had  been  the  authors  of  the  outrage. 

The  dauphin,  with  full  trust  in  this  manifestation  and  this 
promise,  convoked  at  Compiegne,  for  the  4th  of  May,  1358,  no 
longer  the  estates  of  Champagne  only,  but  the  states-general  in 
their  entirety,  who,  on  separating  at  the  close  of  their  last  ses- 
sion, had  adjourned  to  the  1st  of  May  following.  The  story  of 
this  fresh  session,  and  of  the  events  determined  by  it,  is  here 
reproduced  textually,  just  as  it  has  come  down  to  us  from  the 
last  continuer  of  the  Chronicle  of  William  of  Nangis,  the  most 
favorable  amongst  all  the  chroniclers  of  the  time  to  Stephen 
Marcel  and  the  popular  party  in  Paris.  "  All  the  deputies,  and 
especially  the  friends  of  the  nobles  slain,  did  with  one  heart  and 
one  mind  counsel  the  lord  Charles,  Duke  of  Normandy,  to  have 
the  homicides  stricken  to  death  ;  and,  if  he  could  not  do  so  by 
reason  of  the  number  of  their  defenders,  they  urged  him  to  lay 
vigorous  siege  to  the  city  of  Paris,  either  with  an  armed  force 
or  by  forbidding  the  entry  of  victuals  thereinto,  in  such  sort 
that  it  should  understand  and  perceive  for  a  certainty  that  the 
death  of  the  provost  of  tradesmen  and  of  his  accomplices  was 
intended.     The  said  provost  and  those  who,  after  the  regent's 


348  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.     [Chap.  XXL 

departure,  had  taken  the  government  of  the  city,  clearly  under- 
stood this  intention,  and  they  then  implored  the  University  of 
studies  at  Paris  to  send  deputies  to  the  said  lord-regent,  to 
humbly  adjure  him,  in  their  name  and  in  the  name  of  the 
whole  city,  to  banish  from  his  heart  the  wrath  he  had  conceived 
against  their  fellow-citizens,  offering  and  promising,  moreover,  a 
suitable  reparation  for  the  offence,  provided  that  the  lives  of  the 
persons  were  spared.  The  University,  concerned  for  the  welfare 
of  the  city,  sent  several  deputies  of  weight  to  treat  about  the 
matter.  They  were  received  by  the  lord  Duke  Charles  and  the 
other  lords  with  great  kindness  ;  and  they  brought  back  word  to 
Paris  that  the  demand  made  at  Compiegne  was,  that  ten  or  a 
dozen,  or  even  only  five  or  six,  of  the  men  suspected  of  the 
crime  lately  committed  at  Paris  should  be  sent  to  Compiegne, 
where  there  was  no  design  of  putting  them  to  death,  and,  if  this 
were  done,  the  duke-regent  would  return  to  his  old  and  intimate 
friendship  with  the  Parisians.  But  Provost  Marcel  and  his  ac- 
complices, who  were  afeard  for  themselves,  did  not  believe  that 
if  they  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  lord  duke  they  could  escape  a 
terrible  death,  and  they  had  no  mind  to  run  such  a  risk. 
Taking,  therefore,  a  bold  resolution,  they  desired  to  be  treated 
as  all  the  rest  of  the  citizens,  and  to  that  end  sent  several 
deputations  to  the  lord-regent  either  to  Compiegne  or  to  Meaux, 
whither  he  sometimes  removed  ;  but  they  got  no  gracious  reply, 
and  rather  words  of  bitterness  and  threatening.  Thereupon, 
being  seized  with  alarm  for  their  city,  into  the  which  the  lord- 
regent  and  his  noble  comrades  were  so  ardently  desirous  of 
re-entering,  and  being  minded  to  put  it  out  of  reach  from  the 
peril  which  threatened  it,  they  began  to  fortify  themselves 
therein,  to  repair  the  walls,  to  deepen  the  ditches,  to  build  new 
ramparts  on  the  eastern  side,  and  to  throw  up  barriers  at  all  the 
gates.  ...  As  they  lacked  a  captain,  they  sent  to  Charles  the 
Bad,  King  of  Navarre,  who  was  at  that  time  in  Normandy,  and 
whom  they  knew  to  be  freshly  embroiled  with  the  regent ;  and 
they  requested  him  to  come  to  Paris  with  a  strong  body  of  men- 


Chap.  XXI.]  THE   STATES-GENERAL.  349 

at-arms,  and  to  be  their  captain  there  and  their  defender  against 
all  their  foes,  save  the  lord  John,  King  of  France,  a  prisoner  in 
England.  The  King  of  Navarre,  with  all  his  men,  was  received 
in  state,  on  the  15th  of  June,  by  the  Parisians,  to  the  great  in- 
dignation of  the  prince-regent,  his  friends,  and  many  others. 
The  nobles  thereupon  began  to  draw  near  to  Paris,  and  to  ride 
about  in  the  fields  of  the  neighborhood,  prepared  to  fight  if 
there  should  be  a  sortie  from  Paris  to  attack  them.  .  .  .  On  a 
certain  day  the  besiegers  came  right  up  to  the  bridge  of  Charen- 
ton,  as  if  to  draw  out  the  King  of  Navarre  and  the  Parisians  to 
battle.  The  King  of  Navarre  issued  forth,  armed,  with  his  men, 
and  drawing  near  to  the  besiegers,  had  long  conversations  with 
them  without  fighting,  and  afterwards  went  back  into  Paris. 
At  sight  hereof  the  Parisians  suspected  that  this  king,  who  was 
himself  a  noble,  was  conspiring  with  the  besiegers,  and  was  pre- 
paring to  deal  some  secret  blow  to  the  detriment  of  Paris ;  so 
they  conceived  mistrust  of  him  and  his,  and  stripped  him  of  his 
office  of  captain.  He  went  forth  sore  vexed  from  Paris,  he  and 
his  ;  and  the  English  especially,  whom  he  had  brought  with  him, 
insulted  certain  Parisians,  whence  it  happened  that  before  they 
were  out  of  the  city  several  of  them  were  massacred  by  the 
folks  of  Paris,  who  afterwards  confined  themselves  within  their 
walls,  carefully  guarding  the  gates  by  day,  and  by  night  keep- 
ing up  strong  patrols  on  the  ramparts." 

Whilst  Marcel  inside  Paris,  where  he  reigned  supreme,  was  a 
prey,  on  his  own  account  and  that  of  his  besieged  city,  to  these 
anxieties  and  perils,  an  event  occurred  outside  which  seemed  to 
open  to  him  a  prospect  of  powerful  aid,  perhaps  of  decisive  vic- 
tory. Throughout  several  provinces  the  peasants,  whose  condi- 
tion, sad  and  hard  as  it  already  was  under  the  feudal  system, 
had  been  still  further  aggravated  by  the  outrages  and  irregular- 
ities of  war,  not  finding  any  protection  in  their  lords,  and  often 
being  even  oppressed  by  them  as  if  they  had  been  foes,  had 
recourse  to  insurrection  in  order  to  escape  from  the  evils  which 
came    down   upon    them    every   day   and   from   every  quarter. 


350  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF  FRANCE.     [Chap.  XXI. 

They  bore  and  would  bear  anything,  it  was  said,  and  they  got 
the  name  of  Jacques  Bonlwmme  (Jack  G-oodfellow)  ;  but  this 
taunt  they  belied  in  a  terrible  manner.  We  will  quote  from  the 
last  continuer  of  William  of  Nangis,  the  least  declamatory  and 
the  least  confused  of  all  the  chroniclers  of  that  period :  "In  this 
same  year  1358,"  says  he,  "  in  the  summer  [the  first  rising  took 
place  on  the  28th  of  May] ,  the  peasants  in  the  neighborhood  of 
St.  Loup  de  Cerent  and  Clermont,  in  the  diocese  of  Beauvais, 
took  up  arms  against  the  nobles  of  France.  They  assembled  in 
great  numbers,  set  at  their  head  a  certain  peasant  named  Wil- 
liam Karle  [or  Cale,  or  Callet],  of  more  intelligence  than  the 
rest,  and  marching  by  companies  under  their  own  flag,  roamed 
over  the  country,  slaying  and  massacring  all  the  nobles  they 
met,  even  their  own  lords.  Not  content  with  that,  they  demol- 
ished the  houses  and  castles  of  the  nobles ;  and,  what  is  still 
more  deplorable,  they  villanously  put  to  death  the  noble  dames 
and  little  children  who  fell  into  their  hands ;  and  afterwards 
they  strutted  about,  they  and  their  wives,  bedizened  with  the 
garments  they  had  stripped  from  their  victims.  The  number 
of  men  who  had  thus  risen  amounted  to  five  thousand,  and  the 
rising  extended  to  the  outskirts  of  Paris.  They  had  begun  it 
from  sheer  necessity  and  love  of  justice,  for  their  lords  oppressed 
instead  of  defending  them  ;  but  before  long  they  proceeded  to 
the  most  hateful  and  criminal  deeds.  They  took  and  destroyed 
from  top  to  bottom  the  strong  castle  of  Ermenonville,  where 
they  put  to  death  a  multitude  of  men  and  clames  of  noble  family 
who  had  taken  refuge  there.  For  some  time  the  nobles  no 
longer  went  about  as  before  ;  none  of  them  durst  set  a  foot 
outside  the  fortified  places."  Jacquery  had  taken  the  form  of  a 
fit  of  demagogic  fury,  and  the  Jacks  [or  Gfoodfellows']  swarming 
out  of  their  hovels  were  the  terror  of  the  castles. 

Had  Marcel  provoked  this  bloody  insurrection  ?  There  is 
strong  presumption  against  him ;  many  of  his  contemporaries 
say  he  had  ;  and  the  dauphin  himself  wrote  on  the  30th  of  Au- 
gust, 1359,  to  the  Count  of  Savoy,  that  one  of  the  most  heinous 


Chap.  XXL]  THE    STATES-GENERAL.  351 

acts  of  Marcel  and  his  partisans  was  t;  exciting  the  folks  of  the 
open  country  in  France,  of  Beauvaisis  and  Champagne,  and 
other  districts,  against  the  nobles  of  the  said  kingdom ;  whence 
so  many  evils  have  proceeded  as  no  man  should  or  could  con- 
ceive." It  is  quite  certain,  however,  that,  the  insurrection 
having  once  broken  out,  Marcel  hastened  to  profit  by  it,  and 
encouraged  and  even  supported  it  at  several  points.  Amongst 
other  things  he  sent  from  Paris  a  body  of  three  hundred  men  to 
the  assistance  of  the  peasants  who  were  besieging  the  castle  of 
Ermenonville.  It  is  the  due  penalty  paid  by  reformers  who 
allow  themselves  to  drift  into  revolution,  that  they  become 
before  long  accomplices  in  mischief  or  crime  which  their  original 
design  and  their  own  personal  interest  made  it  incumbent  on 
them  to  prevent  or  repress. 

The  reaction  against  Jacquery  was  speedy  and  shockingly 
bloody.  The  nobles,  the  dauphin,  and  the  King  of  Navarre,  a 
prince  and  a  noble  at  the  same  time  that  he  was  a  scoundrel, 
made  common  cause  against  the  Goodfelloivs,  who  were  the 
more  disorderly  in  proportion  as  they  had  become  more  numer- 
ous, and  believed  themselves  more  invincible.  The  ascendency 
of  the  masters  over  the  rebels  was  soon  too  strong  for  resist- 
ance. At  Meaux,  of  which  the  Goodfelloivs  had  obtained  posses- 
sion, they  were  surprised  and  massacred  to  the  number,  it  is 
said,  of  seven  thousand,  with  the  town  burning  about  their 
ears.  In  Beauvaisis,  the  King  of  Navarre,  after  having  made  a 
show  of  treating  with  their  chieftain,  William  Karle  or  Callet, 
got  possession  of  him,  and  had  him  beheaded,  wearing  a  trivet 
of  red-hot  iron,  says  one  of  the  chroniclers,  by  way  of  crown. 
He  then  moved  upon  a  camp  of  Goodfellows  assembled  near 
Montdidier,  slew  three  thousand  of  them,  and  dispersed  the 
remainder.  These  figures  are  probably  very  much  exaggerated, 
as  nearly  always  happens  in  such  accounts  ;  but  the  continuer 
of  William  of  Nangis,  so  justly  severe  on  the  outrages  and  bar- 
barities of  the  insurgent  peasants,  is  not  less  so  on  those  of  their 
conquerors.     "  The  nobles  of  France,"    he  says,    "  committed 


352  POPULAR   HISTORY    OF   FRANCE.     [Chap.  XXI. 

at  that  time  such  ravages  in  the  district  of  Meaux  that  there 
was  no  need  for  the  English  to  come  and  destroy  our  country  : 
those  mortal  enemies  of  the  kingdom  could  not  have  done  what 
was  done  by  the  nobles  at  home." 

Marcel  from  that  moment  perceived  that  his  cause  was  lost, 
and  no  longer  dreamed  of  anything  but  saving  himself  and  his, 
at  any  price ;  "  for  he  thought,"  says  Froissart,  "  that  it  paid 
better  to  slay  than  to  be  slain."  Although  he  had  more  than 
once  experienced  the  disloyalty  of  the  King  of  Navarre,  he 
entered  into  fresh  negotiation  with  him,  hoping  to  use  him  as 
an  intermediaiy  between  himself  and  the  dauphin,  in  order  to 
obtain  either  an  acceptable  peace  or  guarantees  for  his  own 
security  in  case  of  extreme  danger.  The  King  of  Navarre 
lent  a  ready  ear  to  these  overtures  :  he  had  no  scruple  about 
negotiating  with  this  or  that  individual,  this  or  that  party, 
nattering  himself  that  he  would  make  one  or  the  other  useful 
for  his  own  purposes.  Marcel  had  no  difficulty  in  discovering 
that  the  real  design  of  the  King  of  Navarre  was  to  set  aside 
the  house  of  Valois  and  the  Plantagenets  together,  and  to 
become  King  of  France  himself,  as  a  descendant,  in  his  own 
person,  of  St.  Louis,  though  one  degree  more  remote.  An 
understanding  was  renewed  between  the  two,  such  as  it  is 
possible  to  have  between  two  personal  interests  fundamentally 
different,  but  capable  of  being  for  the  moment  mutually  helpful. 
Marcel,  under  pretext  of  defence  against  the  besiegers,  admitted 
into  Paris  a  pretty  large  number  of  English  in  the  pay  of  the 
King  of  Navarre.  Before  long,  quarrels  arose  between  the 
Parisians  and  these  unpopular  foreigners  ;  on  the  21st  of  July, 
1358,  during  one  of  these  quarrels,  twenty-four  English  were 
massacred  by  the  people ;  and  four  hundred  others,  it  is  said, 
were  in  danger  of  undergoing  the  same  fate,  when  Marcel  came 
up  and  succeeded  in  saving  their  lives  by  having  them  im- 
prisoned in  the  Louvre.  The  quarrel  grew  hotter  and  spread 
farther.  The  people  of  Paris  went  and  attacked  other  mer- 
cenaries of  the   King  of  Navarre,    chiefly  English,    who    were 


Chap.  XXI.]  THE   STATES-GENERAL.  353 

occupying  St.  Denis  and  St.  Cloud.  The  Parisians  were 
beaten ;  and  the  King  of  Navarre  withdrew  to  St.  Denis. 
On  the  27th  of  July,  Marcel  boldly  resolved  to  set  at  liberty 
and  send  over  to  him  the  four  hundred  English  imprisoned  in 
the  Louvre.  He  had  them  let  out,  accordingly,  and  himself 
escorted  them  as  far  as  the  gate  St.  Honore,  in  the  midst  of  a 
throng  that  made  no  movement  for  all  its  irritation.  Some  of 
Marcel's  satellites  who  formed  the  escorjt  cried  out  as  they  went, 
"  Has  anybody  aught  to  say  against  the  setting  of  these  prisoners 
at  liberty  ? "  The  Parisians  remembered  their  late  reverse, 
and  not  a  voice  was  raised.  "  Strongly  moved  as  the  people 
of  Paris  were  in  their  hearts  against  the  provost  of  tradesmen," 
says  a  contemporary  chronicle,  "  there  was  not  a  man  who 
durst  commence  a  riot." 

Marcel's  position  became  day  by  day  more  critical.  The 
dauphin,  encamped  with  his  army  around  Paris,  was  keeping 
up  secret  but  very  active  communications  with  it ;  and  a  party, 
numerous  and  already  growing  in  popularity,  was  being  formed 
there  in  his  favor.  Men  of  note,  who  were  lately  Marcel's 
comrades,  were  now  pronouncing  against  him ;  and  John 
Maillart,  one  of  the  four  chosen  captains  of  the  municipal 
forces,  was  the  most  vigilant.  Marcel,  at  his  wit's  end,  made 
an  offer  to  the  King  of  Navarre  to  deliver  Paris  up  to  him 
on  the  night  between  the  31st  of  July  and  the  1st  of  August. 
All  was  ready  for  carrying  out  this  design.  During  the  day  of 
the  31st  of  July,  Marcel  would  have  changed  the  keepers  of  the 
St.  Denis  gate,  but  Maillart  opposed  him,  rushed  to  the  Hotel 
de  Ville,  seized  the  banner  of  France,  jumped  on  horseback 
and  rode  through  the  city  shouting,  "  Mountjoy  St.  Denis,  for 
the  king  and  the  duke ! "  This  was  the  rallying-cry  of  the 
dauphin's  partisans.  The  day  ended  with  a  great  riot  amongst 
the  people.  Towards  eleven  o'clock  at  night  Marcel,  followed 
by  his  people  armed  from  head  to  foot,  made  his  way  to  the  St. 
Anthony  gate,  holding  in  his  hands,  it  is  said,  the  keys  of  the 
city.     Whilst   he   was   there,   waiting  for   the   arrival    of   the 

vol.  ii.  45 


354  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.     [Chap.  XXI. 

King  of  Navarre's  men,  Maillart  came  up  "  with  torches  and 
lanterns  and  a  numerous  assemblage.  He  went  straight  to 
the  provost  and  said  to  him,  '  Stephen,  Stephen,  what  do  you 
here  at  this  hour  ?  '  '  John,  what  business  have  you  to  meddle  ? 
I  am  here  to  take  the  guard  of  the  city  of  which  I  have  the 
government.'  4  By  God,'  rejoined  Maillart,  '  that  will  not  do  ; 
you  are  not  here  at  this  hour  for  any  good,  and  I'll  prove  it  to 
you,'  said  he,  addressing  his  comrades.  '  See,  he  holds  in  his 
hands  the  keys  of  the  gates,  to  betray  the  city.'  '  Yon  lie, 
John,'  said  Marcel.  '  By  God,  you  traitor,  'tis  you  who  lie,' 
replied  Maillart :  4  death  !  death  !  to  all  on  his  side  ! '  "  And 
he  raised  his  battle-axe  against  Marcel.  Philippe  GifTard,  one 
of  the  provost's  friends,  threw  himself  before  Marcel  and 
covered  him  for  a  moment  with  his  own  body  ;  but  the  strug- 
gle had  begun  in  earnest.  Maillart  plied  his  battle-axe  upon 
Marcel,  who  fell  pierced  with  many  wounds.  Six  of  his 
comrades  shared  the  same  fate  ;  and  Robert  Lecocq,  Bishop 
of  Laon,  saved  himself  by  putting  on  a  Cordelier's  habit. 
Maillart's  company  divided  themselves  into  several  bands,  and 
spread  themselves  all  over  the  city,  carrying  the  news  every- 
where, and  despatching  or  arresting  the  partisans  of  Marcel. 
The  next  morning,  the  1st  of  August,  1358,  "  John  Maillart 
brought  together  in  the  market-place  the  greater  part  of  the 
community  of  Paris,  explained  for  what  reason  he  had  slain  the 
provost  of  tradesmen  and  in  what  offence  he  had  detected  him, 
and  pointed  out  quietly  and  discreetly  how  that  on  this  very 
night  the  city  of  Paris  must  have  been  overrun  and  destroyed 
if  God  of  His  grace  had  not  applied  a  remedy.  When  the 
people  who  were  present  heard  these  news  they  were  much 
astounded  at  the  peril  in  which  they  had  been,  and  the  greater 
part  thanked  God  with  folded  hands  for  the  grace  He  had 
done  them."  The  corpse  of  Stephen  Marcel  was  stripped  and 
exposed  quite  naked  to  the  public  gaze,  in  front  of  St.  Cather- 
ine clu  Val  des  Ecoliers,  on  the  very  spot  where,  by  his  orders, 
the  corpses  of  the  two  marshals,  Robert  de  Clermont  and  John 


IN   HIS   HANDS   THE   KEYS   OF  THE  GATES."  —  Page  354. 


Chap.  XXI.]  THE   STATES-GENERAL.  355 

de  Conflans,  had  been  exposed  five  months  before.  He  was 
afterwards  cast  into  the  river  in  the  presence  of  a  great  con- 
course. "  Then  were  sentenced  to  death  by  the  council  of 
prud'hommes  of  Paris,  and  executed  by  divers  forms  of  deadly 
torture,  several  who  had  been  of  the  sect  of  the  provost,"  the 
regent  having  declared  that  he  would  not  re-enter  Paris  until 
these  traitors  had  ceased  to  live. 

Thus  perished,  after  scarcely  three  years'  political  life,  and 
by  the  hands  of  his  former  friends,  a  man  of  rare  capacity  and 
energy,  who  at  the  outset  had  formed  none  but  patriotic  designs, 
and  had,  no  doubt,  promised  himself  a  better  fate.  When*  in 
December,  1355,  at  the  summons  of  a  deplorably  incapable  and 
feeble  king,  Marcel,  a  simple  burgher  of  Paris  and  quite  a  new 
man,  entered  the  assembly  of  the  states-general  of  France, 
itself  quite  a  new  power,  he  was  justly  struck  with  the  vices 
and  abuses  of  the  kingly  government,  with  the  evils  and  the 
dangers  being  entailed  thereby  upon  France,  and  with  the 
necessity  for  applying  some  remedy.  But,  notwithstanding  this 
perfectly  honest  and  sound  conviction,  he  fell  into  a  capital 
error;  he  tried  to  abolish,  for  a  time  at  least,  the  government 
he  desired  to  reform,  and  to  substitute  for  the  kingship  and  its 
agents  the  people  and  their  elect.  For  more  than  three  cen- 
turies the  kingship  had  been  the  form  of  power  which  had 
naturally  assumed  shape  and  development  in  France,  whilst 
seconding  the  natural  labor  attending  the  formation  and  de- 
velopment of  the  French  nation ;  but  this  labor  had  as  yet 
advanced  but  a  little  way,  and  the  nascent  nation  was  not  in  a 
condition  to  take  up  position  at  the  head  of  its  government. 
Stephen  Marcel  attempted  by  means  of  the  states-general  of 
the  fourteenth  century  to  bring  to  pass  what  we  in  the  nine- 
teenth, and  after  all  the  advances  of  the  French  nation,  have 
not  yet  succeeded  in  getting  accomplished,  to  wit,  the  govern- 
ment of  the  country  by  the  country  itself.  Marcel,  going  from 
excess  to  excess  and  from  reverse  to  reverse  in  the  pursuit  of 
his  impracticable  enterprise,  found  himself  before  long  engaged 


356  POPULAR   HISTORY  OF   FRANCE.      [Chap.  XXI. 

in  a  fierce  struggle  with  the  feudal  aristocracy,  still  so  powerful 
at  that  time,  as  well  as  with  the  kingship.  Being  reduced  to 
depend  entirely  during  this  struggle  upon  such  strength  as 
could  be  supplied  by  a  municipal  democracy  incoherent,  in- 
experienced, and  full  of  divisions  in  its  own  ranks,  and  by  a 
mad  insurrection  in  the  country  districts,  he  rapidly  fell  into 
the  selfish  and  criminal  condition  of  the  man  whose  special 
concern  is  his  own  personal  safety.  This  he  sought  to  secure 
by  an  unworthy  alliance  with  the  most  scoundrelly  amongst 
his  ambitious  contemporaries,  and  he  would  have  given  up 
his  own  city  as  well  as  France  to  the  King  of  Navarre  and 
the  English  had  not  another  burgher  of  Paris,  John  Maillart, 
stopped  him,  and  put  him  to  death  at  the  very  moment  when 
the  patriot  of  the  states-general  of  1355  was  about  to  become 
a  traitor  to  his  country.  Hardly  thirteen  years  before,  when 
Stephen  Marcel  was  already  a  full-grown  man,  the  great 
Flemish  burgher,  James  Van  Artevelde,  had,  in  the  cause  of 
his  country's  liberties,  attempted  a  similar  enterprise,  and,  after 
a  series  of  great  deeds  at  the  outset  and  then  of  faults  also 
similar  to  those  of  Marcel,  had  fallen  into  the  same  abyss,  and 
had  perished  by  the  hand  of  his  fellow-citizens,  at  the  very 
moment  when  he  was  laboring  to  put  Flanders,  his  native 
country,  into  the  hands  of  a  foreign  master,  the  Prince  of 
Wales,  son  of  Edward  III.,  King  of  England.  Of  all  political 
snares  the  democratic  is  the  most  tempting,  but  it  is  also  the 
most  demoralizing  and  the  most  deceptive  when,  instead  of 
consulting  the  interests  of  the  democracy  by  securing  public 
liberties,  a  man  aspires  to  put  it  in  direct  possession  of  the 
supreme  power,  and  with  its  sole  support  to  take  upon  him- 
self the  direction  of  the  helm. 

One  single  result  of  importance  was  won  for  France  by  the 
states-general  of  the  fourteenth  century,  namely,  the  principle 
of  the  nation's  right  to  intervene  in  their  own  affairs,  and  to 
set  their  government  straight  when  it  had  gone  wrong  or  was 
incapable   of  performing   that   duty   itself.     Up    to   that   time, 


Chap.  XXL]  THE   STATES-GENERAL.  357 

in  the  thirteenth  century  and  at  the  opening  of  the  fourteenth, 
the  states-general  had  been  hardly  anything  more  than  a 
temporary  expedient  employed  by  the  kingship  itself  to  solve 
some  special  question,  or  to  escape  from  some  grave  embarrass- 
ment. Starting  from  King  John,  the  states-general  became  one 
of  the  principles  of  national  right ;  a  principle  which  did  not 
disappear  even  when  it  remained  without  application,  and  the 
prestige  of  which  survived  even  its  reverses.  Faith  and  hope 
fill  a  prominent  place  in  the  lives  of  peoples  as  well  as  of  in- 
dividuals ;  having  sprung  into  real  existence  in  1855,  the  states- 
general  of  France  found  themselves  alive  again  in  1789  ;  and 
we  may  hope  that,  after  so  long  a  trial,  their  rebuffs  and  their 
mistakes  will  not  be  more  fatal  to  them  in  our  day. 


358  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.     [Chap.  XXII. 


CHAPTER    XXII. 

THE   HUNDRED   YEARS'   WAR.  —  CHARLES   V. 

SO  soon  as  Marcel  and  three  of  his  chief  confidants  had 
been  put  to  death  at  the  St.  Anthony  gate,  at  the  very 
moment  when  they  were  about  to  open  it  to  the  English, 
John  Maillart  had  information  sent  to  the  regent,  at  that 
time  at  Charenton,  with  an  urgent  entreaty  that  he  would 
come  back  to  Paris  without  delay.  "  The  news,  at  once  spread 
abroad  through  the  city,  was  received  with  noisy  joy  there,  and 
the  red  caps,  which  had  been  worn  so  proudly  the  night  before, 
were  everywhere  taken  off  and  hidden.  The  next  morning  a 
proclamation  ordered  that  whosoever  knew  any  of  the  faction 
of  Marcel  should  arrest  them  and  take  them  to  the  Chatelet, 
but  without  laying  hands  on  their  goods  and  without  maltreat- 
ing their  wives  or  children.  Several  were  taken,  put  to  tlie 
question,  brought  out  into  the  public  square,  and  beheaded  by 
virtue  of  a  decree.  They  were  the  men  who  but  lately  had  the 
government  of  the  city  and  decided  all  matters.  Some  were 
burgesses  of  renown,  eloquent  and  learned,  and  one  of  them,  on 
arriving  at  the  square,  cried  out,  4  Woe  is  me !  Would  to 
Heaven,  O  King  of  Navarre,  that  I  had  never  seen  thee  or 
heard  thee  ! '  "  On  the  2d  of  August,  1358,  in  the  evening,  the 
dauphin,  Charles,  re-entered  Paris,  and  was  accompanied  by 
John  Maillart,  who  "  was  mightily  in  his  grace  and  love."  On 
his  way  a  man  cried  out,  "  By  God,  sir,  if  I  had  been  listened 
to,  you  would  never  have  entered  in  here  ;  but,  after  all,  you 
will  get  but  little  by  it."  The  Count  of  Tancarville,  who  was 
in  the  prince's  train,  drew  his  sword,  and  spurred  his  horse  upon 


Chap.  XXIL]  THE   HUNDRED   YEARS'    WAR.  359 

"  this  rascal;  "  but  the  dauphin  restrained  him,  and  contented 
himself  with  saying  smilingly  to  the  man,  "You  will  not  be 
listened  to,  fair  sir."  Charles  had  the  spirit  of  coolness  and 
discretion  ;  and  "  he  thought,"  says  his  contemporary,  Christine 
de  Pisan,  "  that  if  this  fellow  had  been  slain,  the  city  which 
had  been  so  rebellious  might  probably  have  been  excited 
thereby."  Charles,  on  being  resettled  in  Paris,  showed  neither 
clemency  nor  cruelty.  He  let  the  reaction  against  Stephen 
Marcel  run  its  course,  and  turned  it  to  account  without  further 
exciting  it  or  prolonging  it  beyond  measure.  The  property  of 
some  of  the  condemned  was  confiscated  ;  some  attempts  at  a 
conspiracy  for  the  purpose  of  avenging  the  provost  of  trades- 
men were  repressed  with  severity,  and  John  Maillart  and  his 
family  were  loaded  with  gifts  and  favors.  On  becoming  king, 
Charles  determined  himself  to  hold  his  son  at  the  baptismal  font ; 
but  Robert  Lecocq,  Bishop  of  Laon,  the  most  intimate  of  Mar- 
cel's accomplices,  returned  quietly  to  his  diocese  ;  two  of  Marcel's 
brothers,  William  and  John,  owing  their  protection,  it  is  said, 
to  certain  youthful  reminiscences  on  the  prince's  part,  were 
exempted  from  all  prosecution ;  Marcel's  widow  even  recovered 
a  portion  of  his  property ;  and  as  early  as  the  10th  of  August, 
1358,  Charles  published  an  amnesty,  from  which  he  excepted 
only  "  those  who  had  been  in  the  secret  council  of  the  provost 
of  tradesmen  in  respect  of  the  great  treason  ;  "  and  on  the  same 
day  another  amnesty  quashed  all  proceedings  for  deeds  done 
during  the  Jacquery,  "  whether  by  nobles  or  ignobles."  Charles 
knew  that  in  acts  of  rigor  or  of  grace  impartiality  conduces  to 
the  strength  and  the  reputation  of  authority. 

The  death  of  Stephen  Marcel  and  the  ruin  of  his  party  were 
fatal  to  the  plots  and  ambitious  hopes  of  the  King  of  Navarre. 
At  the  first  moment  he  hastened  to  renew  his  alliance  with  the 
King  of  England,  and  to  recommence  war  in  Normandy,  Picar- 
dy,  and  Champagne  against  the  regent  of  France.  But  several 
of  his  local  expeditions  were  unsuccessful ;  the  temperate  and 
patient  policy  of  the  regent  rallied  round  him  the  populations 


360  POPULAR   HISTORY    OF  FRANCE.     [Chap.  XXII. 

aweary  of  war  and  anarchy  ;  negotiations  were  opened  between 
the  two  princes  ;  and  their  agents  were  laboriously  discussing 
conditions  of  peace  when  Charles  of  Navarre  suddenly  inter- 
fered in  person,  saying,  "  I  would  fain  talk  over  matters  with 
the  lord  duke  regent,  my  brother."  We  know  that  his  wife 
was  Joan  of  France,  the  dauphin's  sister.  "  Hereat  there  was 
great  joy,"  says  the  chronicler,  "  amongst  their  councillors. 
The  two  princes  met,  and  the  King  of  Navarre  with  modesty 
and  gentleness  addressed  the  regent  in  these  terms :  4  My  lord 
duke  and  brother,  know  that  I  do  hold  you  to  be  my  proper 
and  especial  lord  ;  though  I  have  for  a  long  while  made  war 
against  you  and  against  France,  our  country,  I  wish  not  to  con- 
tinue or  to  foment  it ;  I  wish  henceforth  to  be  a  good  French- 
man, your  faithful  friend  and  close  ally,  your  defender  against 
the  English  and  whoever  it  may  be :  I  pray  you  to  pardon  me 
thoroughly,  me  and  mine,  for  all  that  I  have  done  to  you  up  to 
this  present.  I  wish  for  neither  the  lands  nor  the  towns  which 
are  offered  to  me  or  promised  to  me ;  if  I  order  myself  well, 
and  you  find  me  faithful  in  all  matters,  you  shall  give  me  all 
that  my  deserts  shall  seem  to  you  to  justify.'  At  these  words 
the  regent  arose  and  thanked  the  king  with  much  sweetness ; 
they,  one  and  the  other,  proffered  and  accepted  wine  and 
spices ;  and  all  present  rejoiced  greatly,  rendering  thanks  to 
God,  who  doth  blow  where  He  listeth,  and  doth  accomplish  in 
a  moment  that  which  men  with  their  own  sole  intelligence  have 
nor  wit  nor  power  to  do  in  a  long  while.  The  town  of  Melun 
was  restored  to  the  lord  duke  ;  the  navigation  of  the  river  once 
more  became  free  up  stream  and  down  ;  great  was  the  satisfac- 
tion in  Paris  and  throughout  the  whole  country  ;  and  peace 
being  thus  made,  the  two  princes  returned  both  of  them 
home." 

The  King  of  Navarre  knew  how  to  give  an  appearance  of  free 
will  and  sincerity  to  changes  of  posture  and  behavior  which 
seemed  to  be  pressed  upon  him  by  necessity  ;  and  we  may  sup- 
pose that  the  dauphin,  all  the  while  that  he  was  interchanging 


Chap.  XXII.]      THE   HUNDRED   YEARS'   WAR.  361 

graceful  acts,  was  too  well  acquainted  by  this  time  with  the 
other  to  become  his  dupe  ;  but,  by  their  apparent  reconciliation, 
they  put  an  end,  for  a  few  brief  moments,  between  themselves 
to  a  position  which  was  burdensome  to  both. 

iWhilst  these  events,  from  the  battle  of  Poitiers  to  the  death 
of  Stephen  Marcel  (from  the  19th  of  September,  1356,  to  the  1st 
of  August,  1358),  were  going  on  in  France,  King  John  was  liv- 
ing as  a  prisoner  in  the  hands  of  the  English,  first  at  Bordeaux, 
and  afterwards  in  London,  and  was  much  more  concerned  about 
the  reception  he  met  with,  and  the  galas  he  was  j)resent  at, 
than  about  the  affairs  of  his  kingdom.  When,  after  his  defeat, 
he  was  conducted  to  Bordeaux  by  the  Prince  of  Wales,  who 
was  governor  of  English  Aquitaine,  he  became  the  object  of  the 
most  courteous  attentions,  not  only  on  the  part  of  his  princely 
conqueror,  but  of  all  Gascon  society,  "  dames  and  damsels,  old 
and  young,  and  their  fair  attendants,  who  took  pleasure  in  con- 
soling him  by  providing  him  with  diversion."  Thus  he  passed 
the  winter  of  1356 ;  and  in  the  spring  the  Prince  of  Wrales 
received  from  his  father,  King  Edward  III.,  the  instructions  and 
the  vessels  he  had  requested  for  the  conveyance  of  his  prisoner 
to  England.  In  the  month  of  May,  1357,  "he  summoned," 
says  Froissart,  "  all  the  highest  barons  of  Gascony,  and  told 
them  that  he  had  made  up  his  mind  to  go  to  England,  whither 
he  would  take  some  of  them,  leaving  the  rest  in  the  country  of 
Bordelais  and  Gascony,  to  keep  the  land  and  the  frontiers 
against  the  French.  Wrhen  the  Gascons  heard  that  the  Prince 
of  Wales  would  carry  away  out  of  their  power  the  King  of 
France,  whom  they  had  helped  to  take,  they  were  by  no  means 
of  accord  therewith,  and  said  to  the  prince,  '  Dear  sir,  we  owe 
you,  in  all  that  is  in  our  power,  all  honor,  obedience,  and  loyal 
service  ;  but  it  is  not  our  desire  that  you  should  thus  remove 
from  us  the  King  of  France,  in  respect  of  whom  we  have  had 
great  trouble  to  put  him  in  the  place  where  he  is ;  for,  thank 
God,  he  is  in  a  good  strong  city,  and  we  are  strong  and  men 
enough  to  keep  him  against  the  French,  if  they  by  force  would 

vol.  n.  46 


362  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.       [Chap.  XXH. 

take  him  from  you.'  The  prince  answered,  '  Dear  sirs,  I  grant 
it  heartily ;  but  my  lord  my  father  wishes  to  hold  and  behold 
him  ;  and  with  the  good  service  that  you  have  done  my  father, 
and  me  also,  we  are  well  pleased,  and  it  shall  be  handsomely 
requited.'  Nevertheless,  these  words  did  not  suffice  to  appease 
the  Gascons,  until  a  means  thereto  was  found  by  Sir  Reginald 
de  Cobham  and  Sir  John  Chandos ;  for  they  knew  the  Gascons 
to  be  very  covetous.  So  they  said  to  the  prince,  '  Sir,  offer 
them  a  sum  of  florins,  and  you  will  see  them  come  down  to  your 
demands.'  The  prince  offered  them  sixty  thousand  florins  ;  but 
they  would  have  nothing  to  do  with  them.  At  last  there  was 
so  much  haggling  that  an  agreement  was  made  for  a  hundred 
thousand  francs,  which  the  prince  was  to  hand  over  to  the 
barons  of  Gascony  to  share  between  them.  He  borrowed  the 
money  ;  and  the  said  sum  was  paid  and  handed  over  to  them 
before  the  prince  started.  When  these  matters  were  done,  the 
prince  put  to  sea  with  a  fine  fleet,  crammed  with  men-at-arms 
and  archers,  and  put  the  King  of  France  in  a  vessel  quite  apart, 
that  he  might  be  more  at  his  ease." 

"  They  were  at  sea  eleven  days  and  eleven  nights,"  continues 
Froissart,  "  and  on  the  12th  they  arrived  at  Sandwich  harbor, 
where  they  landed,  and  halted  two  clays  to  refresh  themselves 
and  their  horses.  On  the  third  day  they  set  out  and  came  to 
St.  Thomas  of  Canterbury." 

"  When  the  news  reached  the  King  and  Queen  of  England 
that  the  prince  their  son  had  arrived  and  had  brought  with  him 
the  King  of  France,  they  were  greatly  rejoiced  thereat,  and 
gave  orders  to  the  burgesses  of  London  to  get  themselves  ready 
in  as  splendid  fashion  as  was  beseeming  to  receive  the  King  of 
France.  They  of  the  city  of  London  obeyed  the  king's  com- 
mandment, and  arrayed  themselves  by  companies  most  richly, 
all  the  trades  in  cloth  of  different  kinds."  According  to  the 
poet  herald-at-arms  of  John  Chandos,  King  Edward  III.  went  in 
person,  with  his  barons  and  more  than  twenty  counts,  to  meet 
King  John,   who  entered  London   "  mounted   on  a  tall  white 


Chap.  XXII.]  THE   HUNDRED   YEARS'   WAR.  363 

steed  right  well  harnessed  and  accoutred  at  all  points,  and  the 
Prince  of  Wales,  on  a  little  black  hackney,  at  his  side." 
King  John  was  first  of  all  lodged  in  London  at  the  Savoy  hotel, 
and  shortly  afterwards  removed,  with  all  his  people,  to  Wind- 
sor ;  "  there,"  says  Froissart,  "  to  hawk,  hunt,  disport  himself, 
and  take  his  pastime  according  to  his  pleasure,  and  Sir  Philip, 
his  son,  also  ;  and  all  the  rest  of  the  other  lords,  counts,  and 
barons,  remained  in  London,  but  they  went  to  see  the  king  when 
it  pleased  them,  and  they  were  put  upon  their  honor  only." 
Chandos's  poet  adds,  "  Many  a  dame  and  many  a  damsel,  right 
amiable,  gay,  and  lovely,  came  to  dance  there,  to  sing,  and  to 
cause  great  galas  and  jousts,  as  in  the  days  of  King  Arthur." 
In  the  midst  of  his  pleasures  in  England  King  John  some- 
times also  occupied  himself  at  Windsor  with  his  business  in 
France,  but  with  no  more  wisdom  or  success  than  had  been  his 
wont  during  his  actual  reign.  Towards  the  end  of  April,  1359, 
the  dauphin-regent  received  at  Paris  the  text  of  a  treaty  which 
the  king  his  father  had  concluded,  in  London,  with  the  King  of 
England.  "  The  cession  of  the  western  half  of  France,  from 
Calais  to  Bayonne,  and  the  immediate  payment  of  four  million 
golden  crowns,"  such  was,  according  to  the  terms  of  this  treaty, 
the  price  of  King  John's  ransom,  says  M.  Picot,  in  his  work 
concerning  the  History  of  the  States-  General,  which  was  crowned 
in  1869  by  the  Academie  des  Sciences  Morales  et  Politiques:  and 
the  regent  resolved  to  leave  to  the  judgment  of  France  the 
acceptance  or  refusal  of  such  exorbitant  demands.  He  sum- 
moned a  meeting,  to  be  held  at  Paris  on  the  19th  of  May,  of 
churchmen,  nobles,  and  deputies  from  the  good  towns ;  but 
"  there  came  but  few  deputies,  as  well  because  full  notice  had 
not  by  that  time  been  given  of  the  said  summons,  as  because 
the  roads  were  blocked  by  the  English  and  the  Navarrese,  who 
occupied  fortresses  in  all  parts  whereby  it  was  possible  to  get  to 
Paris."  The  assembly  had  to  be  postponed  from  clay  to  day. 
At  last,  on  the  25th  of  May,  the  regent  repaired  to  the  palace. 
Me  halted  on  the  marble  staircase  ;  around  him  were  ranged  the 


364  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.     [Chap.  XXII. 

three  estates ;  and  a  numerous  multitude  filled  the  court-yard. 
In  presence  of  all  the  people,  William  de  Dormans,  king's  advo- 
cate in  parliament,  read  the  treaty  of  peace,  which  was  to  divide 
the  kingdom  into  two  parts,  so  as  to  hand  over  one  to  the  foes 
of  France.  The  reading  of  it  roused  the  indignation  of  the 
people.  The  estates  replied  that  the  treaty  was  not  "  tolerable 
or  feasible,"  and  in  their  patriotic  enthusiasm  "  decreed  to 
make  fair  war  on  the  English."  But  it  was  not  enough  to  spare 
the  kingdom  the  shame  of  such  a  treaty  ;  it  was  necessary  to 
give  the  regent  the  means  of  concluding  a  better.  On  the  2d 
of  June,  the  nobles  announced  to  the  dauphin  that  they  would 
serve  for  a  month  at  their  own  expense,  and  that  they  would 
pay  besides  such  imposts  as  should  be  decreed  by  the  good 
towns.  The  churchmen  also  offered  to  pay  them.  The  city  of 
Paris  undertook  to  maintain  "  six  hundred  swords,  three  hun- 
dred archers,  and  a  thousand  brigands"  The  good  towns 
offered  twelve  thousand  men  ;  but  they  could  not  keep  their 
promise,  the  country  being  utterly  ruined. 

When  King  John  heard  at  Windsor  that  the  treaty,  whereby 
he  had  hoped  to  be  set  at  liberty,  had  been  rejected  at  Paris,  he 
showed  his  displeasure  by  a  single  outburst  of  personal  animos- 
ity, saying,  "Ah!  Charles,  fair  son,  you  were  counselled  by 
the  King  of  Navarre,  who  deceives  you,  and  would  deceive  sixty 
such  as  you!"  Edward  III.,  on  his  side,  at  once  took  meas- 
ures for  recommencing  the  war  ;  but  before  engaging  in  it  he 
had  King  John  removed  from  Windsor  to  Hertford  Castle,  and 
thence  to  Somerton,  where  he  set  a  strong  guard.  Having  thus 
made  certain  that  his  prisoner  would  not  escape  from  him,  he 
put  to  sea,  and,  on  the  28th  of  October,  1359,  landed  at  Calais 
with  a  numerous  and  well-supplied  army.  Then,  rapidly  trav- 
ersing Northern  France,  he  did  not  halt  till  he  arrived  before 
Rheims,  which  he  was  in  hopes  of  surprising,  and  where,  it  is 
said,  he  purposed  to  have  himself,  without  delay,  crowned  King 
of  France.  But  he  found  the  place  so  well  provided,  and  the 
population  so  determined  to  make  a  good  defence,  that  he  raised 


Chap.  XXII.]      THE   HUNDRED    YEARS'    WAR.  365 

the  siege  and  moved  on  Chalons,  where  the  same  disappointment 
awaited  him.  Passing  from  Champagne  to  Burgundy,  he  then 
commenced  the  same  course  of  scouring  and  ravaging ;  but  the 
Burgundians  entered  into  negotiations  with  him,  and  by  a  treaty 
concluded  on  the  10th  of  March,  1360,  and  signed  by  Joan  of 
Auvergne,  Queen  of  France,  second  wife  of  King  John,  and 
guardian  of  the  young  Duke  of  Burgundy,  Philip  de  Rouvre, 
they  obtained,  at  the  cost  of  two  hundred  thousand  golden 
sheep  (nioutons),  an  agreement  that  for  three  years  Edward 
and  his  army  "  would  not  go  scouring  and  burning  "  in  Bur- 
gundy, as  they  were  doing  in  the  other  parts  of  France.  Such 
was  the  powerlessness,  or  rather  absence,  of  all  national  govern- 
ment, that  a  province  made  a  treaty  all  alone,  and  on  its  own 
account,  without  causing  the  regent  to  show  any  surprise,  or  to 
dream  of  making  any  complaint. 

As  a  make-weight,  at  this  same  time,  another  province,  Pi- 
cardy,  aided  by  many  Normans  and  Flemings,  its  neighbors, 
"  nobles,  burgesses,  and  common-folk,"  was  sending  to  sea  an 
expedition  which  was  going  to  try,  with  God's  help,  to  deliver 
King  John  from  his  prison  in  England,  and  bring  him  back  in 
triumph  to  his  kingdom.  "  Thus,"  says  the  chronicler,  "  they 
who,  God-forsaken  or  through  their  own  faults,  could  not  de- 
fend themselves  on  the  soil  of  their  fathers,  were  going  abroad 
to  seek  their  fortune  and  their  renown,  to  return  home  covered 
with  honor  and  boasting  of  divine  succor !  The  Picard  expe- 
dition landed  in  England  on  the  14th  of  March,  1360  ;  it  did  not 
deliver  King  John,  but  it  took  and  gave  over  to  flames  and  pil- 
lage for  two  days  the  town  of  Winchelsea,  after  which  it  put  to 
sea  again,  and  returned  to  its  hearths."  (The  Continuer  of  Wil- 
liam of  Nangis,  t.  ii.  p.  298.) 

Edward  III.,  weary  of  thus  roaming  with  his  army  over 
France  without  obtaining  any  decisive  result,  and  without  even 
managing  to  get  into  his  hands  any  one  "of  the  good  towns 
which  he  had  promised  himself,"  says  Froissart,  "  that  he  would 
tan  and  hide  in  such  sort  that  they  would  be  glad  to  come  to 


POPULAR   HISTORY    OF   FRANCE.     [Chap.  XXII. 

some  accord  with  him,"  resolved  to  direct  his  efforts  against  the 
capital  of  the  kingdom,  where  the  dauphin  kept  himself  close. 
On  the  7th  of  April,  1360,  he  arrived  hard  by  Montrouge,  and 
his  troops  spread  themselves  over  the  outskirts  of  Paris  in  the 
form  of  an  investing  or  besieging  force.  But  he  had  to  do  with 
a  city  protected  by  good  ramparts,  and  well  supplied  with  pro- 
visions, and  with  a  prince  cool,  patient,  determined,  free  from 
any  illusion  as  to  his  danger  or  his  strength,  and  resolved  not  to 
risk  any  of  those  great  battles  of  which  he  had  experienced  the 
sad  issue.  Foreseeing  the  advance  of  the  English,  he  had 
burned  the  villages  in  the  neighborhood  of  Paris,  where  they 
might  have  fixed  their  quarters ;  he  did  the  same  with  the  sub- 
urbs of  St.  Germain,  St.  Marcel,  and  Notre-Dame-des-Champs ; 
he  turned  a  deaf  ear  to  all  King  Edward's  warlike  challenges ; 
and  some  attempts  at  an  assault  on  the  part  of  the  English 
knights,  and  some  sorties  on  the  part  of  the  French  knights, 
impatient  of  their  inactivity,  came  to  nothing.  At  the  end  of  a 
week  Edward,  whose  "  army  no  longer  found  aught  to  eat," 
withdrew  from  Paris  by  the  Chartres  road,  declaring  his  purpose 
of  entering  "  the  good  country  of  Beauce,  where  he  would  re- 
cruit himself  all  the  summer,"  and  whence  he  would  return 
after  vintage  to  resume  the  siege  of  Paris,  whilst  his  lieutenants 
would  ravage  all  the  neighboring  provinces.  When  he  was  ap- 
proaching Chartres,  "  there  burst  upon  his  army,"  says  Froissart, 
"  a  tempest,  a  storm,  an  eclipse,  a  wind,  a  hail,  an  upheaval  so 
mighty,  so  wondrous,  so  horrible,  that  it  seemed  as  if  the  heaven 
were  all  a-tumble,  and  the  earth  were  opening  to  swallow  up 
everything ;  the  stones  fell  so  thick  and  so  big  that  they  slew 
men  and  horses,  and  there  was  none  so  bold  but  that  they  were 
all  dismayed.  There  were  at  that  time  in  the  army  certain  wise 
men,  who  said  that  it  was  a  scourge  of  God,  sent  as  a  warning, 
and  that  God  was  showing  by  signs  that  He  would  that  peace 
should  be  made."  Edward  had  by  him  certain  discreet  friends, 
who  added  their  admonitions  to  those  of  the  tempest.  His 
cousin,  the  Duke  of  Lancaster,  said  to  him,  "  My  lord,  this  war 


Chap.  XXII.]      THE   HUNDRED   YEARS'   WAR.  367 

that  you  are  waging  in  the  kingdom  of  France  is  right  won- 
drous, and  too  costly  for  you  ;  your  men  gain  by  it,  and  you  lose 
your  time  over  it  to  no  purpose  ;  you  will  spend  your  life  on  it, 
and  it  is  very  doubtful  whether  you  will  attain  your  desire; 
take  the  offers  made  to  you  now,  whilst  you  can  come  out  with 
honor ;  for,  my  lord,  we  may  lose  more  in  one  day  than  we  have 
won  in  twenty  years."  The  Regent  of  France,  on  his  side,  indi- 
rectly made  overtures  for  peace ;  the  Abbot  of  Cluny,  and  the 
General  of  the  Dominicans,  legates  of  Pope  Innocent  VI.,  warmly 
seconded  them  ;  and  negotiations  were  opened  at  the  hamlet  of 
Bretigny,  close  to  Chartres.  "The  King  of  England  was  a  hard 
nut  to  crack,"  says  Froissart ;  he  yielded  a  little,  however,  and 
on  the  8th  of  May,  1360,  was  concluded  the  treaty  of  Bretigny, 
a  peace  disastrous  indeed,  but  become  necessary.  Aquitaine 
ceased  to  be  a  French  fief,  and  was  exalted,  in  the  King  of  Eng- 
land's interest,  to  an  independent  sovereignty,  together  with  the 
provinces  attached  to  Poitou,  Saintonge,  Aunis,  Agenois,  Peri- 
gord,  Limousin,  Quercy,  Bigorre,  Angoumois,  and  Rouergue. 
The  King  of  England,  on  his  side,  gave  up  completely  to  the 
King  of  France  Normandy,  Maine,  and  the  portion  of  Touraine 
and  Anjou  situated  to  the  north  of  the  Loire.  He  engaged, 
further,  to  solemnly  renounce  all  pretensions  to  the  crown  of 
France  so  soon  as  King  John  had  renounced  all  rights  of  suze- 
rainty over  Aquitaine.  King  John's  ransom  was  fixed  at  three 
millions  of  golden  crowns,  payable  in  six  years,  and  John  Galeas 
Visconti,  Duke  of  Milan,  paid  the  first  instalment  of  it  (six  hun- 
dred thousand  florins)  as  the  price  of  his  marriage  with  Isabel  of 
France,  daughter  of  King  John.  Hard  as  these  conditions  were, 
the  peace  was  joyfully  welcomed  in  Paris,  and  throughout  Northern 
France ;  the  bells  of  the  country  churches,  as  well  as  of  Notre- 
Dame  in  Paris,  songs  and  dances  amongst  the  people,  and  liberty 
of  locomotion  and  of  residence  secured  to  the  English  in  all 
places,  "  so  that  none  should  disquiet  them  or  insult  them,"  bore 
witness  to  the  general  satisfaction.  But  some  of  the  provinces 
ceded  to  the  King  of  England  had  great  difficulty  in  resigning 


368  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.     [Chap.  XXII. 

themselves  to  it.  "  In  Poitou,  and  in  all  the  district  of  Sain- 
tonge,"  says  Froissart,  "  great  was  the  displeasure  of  barons, 
knights,  and  good  towns  when  they  had  to  be  English.  The 
town  of  La  Rochelle  was  especially  unwilling  to  agree  thereto ; 
it  is  wonderful  what  sweet  and  piteous  words  they  wrote,  again 
and  again,  to  the  King  of  France,  begging  him,  for  God's  sake, 
to  be  pleased  not  to  separate  them  from  his  own  domains,  or 
place  them  in  foreign  hands,  and  saying  that  they  would  rather 
be  clipped  every  year  of  half  their  revenue  than  pass  into  the 
hands  of  the  English.  And  when  they  saw  that  neither  ex- 
cuses, nor  remonstrances,  nor  prayers  were  of  any  avail,  they 
obeyed ,  but  the  men  of  most  mark  in  the  town  said,  4  We  will 
recognize  the  English  with  the  lips,  but  the  heart  shall  beat  to  it 
never.'  '  Thus  began  to  grow  in  substance  and  spirit,  in  the 
midst  of  war  and  out  of  disaster  itself  [per  damna,  per  ccedes  ah 
ipso  Duxit  opes  animumque  ferro~\,  that  national  patriotism  which 
had  hitherto  been  such  a  stranger  to  feudal  France,  and  which 
was  so  necessary  for  her  progress  towards  unity  —  the  sole  con- 
dition for  her  of  strength,  security,  and  grandeur,  in  the  state 
characteristic  of  the  European  world  since  the  settlement  of  the 
Franks  in  Gaul. 

Having  concluded  the  treaty  of  Bretigny,  the  King  of  Eng- 
land returned  on  the  18th  of  May,  1360,  to  London  ;  and,  on 
the  8th  of  July  following,  King  John,  having  been  set  at  liberty, 
was  brought  over  by  the  Prince  of  Wales  to  Calais,  where 
Edward  III.  came  to  meet  him.  The  two  kings  treated  one 
another  there  with  great  courtesy.  "  The  King  of  England," 
says  Froissart,  "gave  the  King  of  France  at  Calais  Castle  a 
magnificent  supper,  at  which  his  own  children,  and  the  Duke  of 
Lancaster,  and  the  greatest  barons  of  England,  waited  at  table, 
bareheaded."  Meanwhile  the  Prince-Regent  of  France  was 
arriving  at  Amiens,  and  there  receiving  from  his  brother-in-law, 
Galeas  Visconti,  Duke  of  Milan,  the  sum  necessary  to  pay  the 
first  instalment  of  his  royal  father's  ransom.  Payment  having 
been  made,  the  two  kings  solemnly  ratified  at  Calais  the  treaty 


Chap.  XXII.]  THE   HUNDRED   YEARS'   WAR.  369 

of  Bretigny.  Two  sons  of  King  John,  the  Duke  of  Anjou  and 
the  Duke  of  Berry,  with  several  other  personages  of  considera- 
tion, princes  of  the  blood,  barons,  and  burgesses  of  the  principal 
good  towns,  were  given  as  hostages  to  the  King  of  England  for 
the  due  execution  of  the  treaty ;  and  Edward  III.  negotiated 
between  the  King  of  France  and  Charles  the  Bad,  King  of  Na- 
varre, a  reconciliation  precarious  as  ever.  The  work  of  pacifi- 
cation having  been  thus  accomplished,  King  John  departed  on 
foot  for  Boulogne,  where  he  was  awaited  by  the  dauphin,  his 
son,  and  where  the  Prince  of  Wales  and  his  two  brothers,  like- 
wise on  foot,  came  and  joined  him.  All  these  princes  passed 
two  days  together  at  Boulogne  in  religious  ceremonies  and  joyous 
galas ;  after  which  the  Prince  of  Wales  returned  to  Calais,  and 
King  John  set  out  for  Paris,  which  he  once  more  entered,  De- 
cember 13,  1360.  "He  was  welcomed  there,''  says  Froissart, 
"  by  all  manner  of  folk,  for  he  had  been  much  desired  there. 
Rich  presents  were  made  him ;  the  prelates  and  barons  of  his 
kingdom  came  to  visit  him ;  they  feasted  him  and  rejoiced  with 
him,  as  it  was  seemly  to  do  ;  and  the  king  received  them  sweetly 
and  handsomely,  for  well  he  knew  how." 

And  that  was  all  King  John  did  know.  When  he  was  once 
more  seated  on  his  throne,  the  counsels  of  his  eldest  son,  the 
late  regent,  induced  him  to  take  some  wise  and  wholesome  ad- 
ministrative measures.  All  adulteration  of  the  coinage  was 
stopped ;  the  Jews  were  recalled  for  twenty  years,  and  some 
securities  were  accorded  to  their  industry  and  interests ;  and  an 
edict  renewed  the  prohibition  of  private  wars.  But  in  his  per- 
sonal actions,  in  his  bearing  and  practices  as  a  king,  the  levity, 
frivolity,  thoughtlessness,  and  inconsistency  of  King  John  were 
the  same  as  ever.  He  went  about  his  kingdom,  especially  in 
Southern  France,  seeking  everywhere  occasions  for  holiday- 
making  and  disbursing,  rather  than  for  observing  and  reforming 
the  state  of  the  county.  During  the  visit  he  paid  in  1362  to 
the  new  pope,  Urban  V.,  at  Avignon,  he  tried  to  get  married  to 
Queen  Joan  of  Naples,  the  widow  of  two  husbands  already,  and, 

vol.  ii.  47 


370  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.     [Chap.  XXII. 

not  being  successful,  he  was  on  the  point  of  involving  himself  in 
a  new  crusade  against  the  Turks.  It  was  on  his  return  from 
this  trip  that  he  committed  the  gravest  fault  of  his  reign,  a 
fault  which  was  destined  to  bring  upon  France  and  the  French 
kingship  even  more  evils  and  disasters  than  those  which  had 
made  the  treaty  of  Bretigny  a  necessity.  In  1362,  the  young 
Duke  of  Burgund}r,  Philip  de  Rouvre,  the  last  of  the  first  house 
of  the  Dukes  of  Burgundy,  descendants  of  King  Robert,  died 
without  issue,  leaving  several  pretenders  to  his  rich  inheritance. 
King  John  was,  according  to  the  language  of  the  genealogists, 
the  nearest  of  blood,  and  at  the  same  time  the  most  powerful ; 
and  he  immediately  took  possession  of  the  duchy,  went,  on  the 
23d  of  December,  1362,  to  Dijon,  swore  on  the  altar  of  St.  Be- 
nignus  that  he  would  maintain  the  privileges  of  the  city  and  of 
the  province,  and,  nine  months  after,  on  the  6th  of  September, 
1363,  disposed  of  the  duchy  of  Burgundy  in  the  following 
terms :  "  Recalling  again  to  memory  the  excellent  and  praise- 
worthy services  of  our  right  dearly  beloved  Philip,  the  fourth 
of  our  sons,  who  freely  exposed  himself  to  death  with  us,  and, 
all  wounded  as  he  was,  remained  unwavering  and  fearless  at  the 
battle  of  Poitiers  ...  we  do  concede  to  him  and  give  him  the 
duchy  and  peerage  of  Burgundy,  together  with  all  that  we  may 
have  therein  of  right,  possession,  and  proprietorship  .  .  .  for 
the  which  gift  our  said  son  hath  done  us  homage  as  duke  and 
premier  peer  of  France."  Thus  was  founded  that  second  house 
of  the  Dukes  of  Burgundy  which  was  destined  to  play,  for 
more  than  a  century,  so  great  and  often  so  fatal  a  part  in  the 
fortunes  of  France. 

Whilst  he  was  thus  preparing  a  gloomy  future  for  his  country 
and  his  line,  King  John  heard  that  his  second  son,  the  Duke  of 
Anjou,  one  of  the  hostages  left  in  the  hands  of  the  King  of 
England  as  security  for  the  execution  of  the  treaty  of  Bretigny, 
had  broken  his  word  of  honor  and  escaped  from  England,  in 
order  to  go  and  join  his  wife  at  Guise  Castle.  Knightly  faith 
was  the  virtue  of  King  John  ;  and  it  was,  they  say,  on  this 


CHARLES  V.— Page  371. 


Chap.  XXII.]      THE   HUNDRED   YEARS'    WAR.  371 

occasion,  that  lie  cried,  as  lie  was  severely  upbraiding  his  son, 
that  "  if  good  faith  were  banished  from  the  world,  it  ought  to 
find  an  asylum  in  the  hearts  of  kings."  He  announced  to  his 
councillors,  assembled  at  Amiens,  his  intention  of  going  in  per- 
son to  England.  An  effort  was  made  to  dissuade  him;  and 
"  several  prelates  and  barons  of  France  told  him  that  he  was 
committing  great  folly  when  he  was  minded  to  again  put  him- 
self in  danger  from  the  King  of  England.  He  answered  that 
he  had  found  in  his  brother,  the  King  of  England,  in  the  Queen, 
and  in  his  nephews,  their  children,  so  much  loyalty,  honor,  and 
courtesy,  that  he  had  no  doubt  but  that  they  would  be  cour- 
teous, loyal,  and  amiable  to  him,  in  any  case.  And  so  he  was 
minded  to  go  and  make  the  excuses  of  his  son,  the  Duke  of 
Anjou,  who  had  returned  to  France."  According  to  the  most 
intelligent  of  the  chroniclers  of  the  time,  the  Continuer  of  Wil- 
liam of  Nangis,  "  some  persons  said  that  the  king  was  minded 
to  go  to  England  in  order  to  amuse  himself ;  "  and  they  were 
probably  right,  for  kingly  and  knightly  amusements  were  the 
favorite  subject  of  King  John's  meditations.  This  time  he 
found  in  England  something  else  besides  galas ;  he  before  long- 
fell  seriously  ill,  "  which  mightily  disconcerted  the  King  and 
Queen  of  England,  for  the  wisest  in  the  country  judged  him  to 
be  in  great  peril."  He  died,  in  fact,  on  the  8th  of  April,  1364, 
at  the  Savoy  Hotel,  in  London  j  "  whereat  the  King  of  England, 
the  Queen,  their  children,  and  many  English  barons  were  much 
moved,"  says  Froissart,  "  for  the  honor  of  the  great  love  which 
the  King  of  France,  since  peace  was  made,  had  shown  them." 
France  was  at  last  about  to  have  in  Charles  V.  a  practical  and 
an  effective  king. 

In  spite  of  the  discretion  he  had  displayed  during  his  four 
years  of  regency  (from  1356  to  1360),  his  reign  opened  under 
the  saddest  auspices.  In  1363,  one  of  those  contagious  diseases, 
all  at  that  time  called  the  plague,  committed  cruel  ravages  in 
France.  "None,"  says  the  contemporary  chronicler,  "could 
count  the  number  of  the  dead  in  Paris,  young  or  old,  rich  or 


872  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.     [Chap.  XXII. 

poor ;  when  death  entered  a  house,  the  little  children  died  first, 
then  the  menials,  then  the  parents.  In  the  smallest  villages,  as 
well  as  in  Paris,  the  mortality  was  such  that  at  Argenteuil,  for 
example,  where  there  were  wont  to  be  numbered  seven  hundred 
hearths,  there  remained  no  more  than  forty  or  fifty."  The  rav- 
ages of  the  armed  thieves,  or  bandits,  who  scoured  the  country 
added  to  those  of  the  plague.  Let  it  suffice  to  quote  one  in- 
stance. "  In  Beauce,  c**.  the  Orleans  and  Chartres  side,  some 
brigands  and  prowlers,  with  hostile  intent,  dressed  as  pig-dealers 
or  cow-drivers,  came  to  the  little  castle  of  Murs,  close  to  Cor- 
beil,  and  finding  outside  the  gate  the  master  of  the  place,  who 
was  a  knight,  asked  him  to  get  them  back  their  pigs,  which  his 
menials,  they  said,  had  the  night  before  taken  from  them,  which 
was  false.  The  master  gave  them  leave  to  go  in,  that  they 
might  discover  their  pigs  and  move  them  away.  As  soon  as 
they  had  crossed  the  drawbridge  they  seized  upon  the  master, 
threw  off  their  false  clothes,  drew  their  weapons,  and  blew  a 
blast  upon  the  bagpipe ;  and  forthwith  appeared  their  comrades 
from  their  hiding-places  in  the  neighboring  woods.  They  took 
possession  of  the  castle,  its  master  and  mistress,  and  all  their 
folk ;  and,  settling  themselves  there,  they  scoured  from  thence 
the  whole  country,  pillaging  everywhere,  and  filling  the  castle 
with  the  provisions  they  carried  off.  At  the  rumor  of  this 
thievish  capture,  many  men-at-arms  in  the  neighborhood  rushed 
up  to  expel  the  thieves  and  retake  from  them  the  castle.  Not 
succeeding  in  their  assault,  they  fell  back  on  Corbeil,  and  then 
themselves  set  to  ravaging  the  country,  taking  away  from  the 
farm-houses  provisions  and  wine  without  paying*  a  doit,  and 
carrying  them  off  to  Corbeil  for  their  own  use.  They  became 
before  long  as  much  feared  and  hated  as  the  brigands ;  and  all 
the  inhabitants  of  the  neighboring  villages,  leaving  their  homes 
and  their  labor,  took  refuge,  with  their  children  and  what  they 
had  been  able  to  carry  off,  in  Paris,  the  only  place  where  they 
could  find  a  little  security."  Thus  the  population  was  without 
any  kind  of  regular  force,  anything  like  effectual  protection ; 


Chap.  XXIL]       THE  HUNDRED   YEARS'   WAR.  373 

the  temporary  defenders  of  order  themselves  went  over,  and 
with  alacrity  too,  to  the  side  of  disorder  when  they  did  not 
succeed  in  repressing  it ;  and  the  men-at-arms  set  readily  about 
plundering,  in  their  turn,  the  castles  and  country-places  whence 
they  had  been  charged  to  drive  off  the  plunderers. 

Let  us  add  a  still  more  striking  example  of  the  absence  of  all 
publicly  recognized  power  at  this  period,  and  of  the  necessity  to 
which  the  population  was  nearly  everywhere  reduced  of  defend- 
ing itself  with  its  own  hands,  in  order  to  escape  ever  so  little 
from  the  evils  of  war  and  anarchy.  It  was  a  little  while  ago 
pointed  out  why  and  how,  after  the  death  of  Marcel  and  the 
downfall  of  his  faction,  Charles  the  Bad,  King  of  Navarre, 
suddenly  determined  upon  making  his  peace  with  the  regent 
of  France.  This  peace  was  very  displeasing  to  the  English, 
allies  of  the  King  of  Navarre,  and  they  continued  to  carry  on 
war,  ravaging  the  country  here  and  there,  at  one  time  victorious 
and  at  another  vanquished  in  a  multiplication  of  disconnected 
encounters.  "  I  will  relate,"  says  the  Continuer  of  William  of 
Nangis,  "  one  of  those  incidents  just  as  it  occurred  in  my  neigh- 
borhood, and  as  I  have  been  truthfully  told  about  it.  The 
struggle  there  was  valiantly  maintained  by  peasants,  Jacques 
Bonhomme  (Jack  Goodfellows),  as  they  are  called.  There  is  a 
place  pretty  well  fortified  in  a  little  town  named  Longueil,  not 
far  from  Compiegne,  in  the  diocese  of  Beauvais,  and  near  to  the 
banks  of  the  Oise.  This  place  is  close  to  the  monastery  of  St. 
Corneille-de-Compiegne.  The  inhabitants  perceived  that  there 
would  be  danger  if  the  enemy  occupied  this  point ;  and,  after 
having  obtained  authority  from  the  lord-regent  of  France  and 
the  abbot  of  the  monastery,  they  settled  themselves  there, 
provided  themselves  with  arms  and  provisions,  and  appointed 
a  captain  taken  from  among  themselves,  promising  the  regent 
that  they  would  defend  this  place  to  the  death.  Many  of  the 
villagers  came  thither  to  place  themselves  in  security,  and  they 
chose  for  captain  a  tall,  fine  man,  named  William  a-Larks  (aux 
Alouettes).     He  had  for  servant,  and  held  as  with  bit  and  bridle, 


374  POPULAR   HISTORY  OF   FRANCE.     [Chap.  XXII. 

a  certain  peasant  of  lofty  stature,  marvellous  bodily  strength, 
and  equal   boldness,  who   had  joined   to   these   advantages  an 
extreme    modesty :    he   was   called    Big  FerrL      These   folks 
settled   themselves  at  this  point  to  the  number  of  about  two 
hundred  men,  all  tillers  of  the  soil,  and  getting  a  poor  liveli- 
hood by  the  labor  of  their  hands.     The  English,  hearing  it  said 
that  these  folks  were  there  and  were  determined  to  resist,  held 
them  in  contempt,  and  went  to  them,  saying,  '  Drive  we  hence 
these   peasants,  and  take   we  possession  of  this  point  so   well 
fortified   and  well   supplied.'     They  went  thither  to  the  num- 
ber of  two  hundred.     The  folks  inside  had  no  suspicion  thereof, 
and  had  left  their  gates  open.     The  English  entered  boldly  into 
the  place,  whilst  the  peasants  were  in  the  inner  courts  or  at  the 
windows,  a-gape  at  seeing  men  so  well  armed  making  their  way 
in.     The  captain,  William   a-Larks,    came  down  at  once  with 
some  of  his  people,  and  bravely  began  the  fight ;  but  he  had  the 
worst  of  it,  was  surrounded  by  the  English,  and  himself  stricken 
with  a  mortal  wound.     At  sight  hereof,  those  of  his  folk  who 
were  still  in  the  courts,  with  Big  Ferre  at  their  head,  said  one 
to  another,  '  Let  us  go  down  and  sell  our  lives  dearly,  else  they 
will  slay  us  without  mercy,'     Gathering  themselves  discreetly 
together,  they  went  down  by  different  gates,  and  struck  out 
with  mighty  blows  at  the  English,  as  if  they  had  been  beating 
out  their  corn  on  the  threshing-floor ;  their  arms  went  up  and 
down  again,  and  every  blow  dealt  out  a  deadly  wound.     Big 
Ferre,  seeing   his  captain   laid   low  and   almost   dead  already, 
uttered  a  bitter  cry,  and  advancing  upon  the  English  he  topped 
them  all,  as  he  did  his  own  fellows,  by  a  head  and  shoulders. 
Raising  his  axe,  he  dealt  about  him  deadly  blows,  insomuch  that 
in  front  of  him  the  place  was  soon  a  void  ;  he  felled  to  the  earth 
all  those  whom  he  could  reach  ;  of  one  he  broke  the  head,  of 
another  he  lopped  off  the  arms ;  he  bore  himself  so  valiantly 
that  in  an  hour  he  had  with  his  own  hand  slain  eighteen  of  them, 
without  counting  the  wounded  ;  and  at  this  sight  his  comrades 
were  filled  with  ardor.     What  more  shall  I  say  ?     All  that  band 


Chap.  XXIL]         THE   HUNDRED   YEARS'   WAR.  875 

of  English  were  forced  to  turn  their  backs  and  fly ;  some 
jumped  into  the  ditches  full  of  water ;  others  tried  with  totter- 
ing steps  to  regain  the  gates.  Big  Ferre,  advancing  to  the  spot 
where  the  English  had  planted  their  flag,  took  it,  killed  the 
bearer,  and  told  one  of  his  own  fellows  to  go  and  hurl  it  into 
a  ditch  where  the  wall  was  as  not  yet  finished.  '  I  cannot,'  said 
the  other, 4  there  are  still  so  many  English  yonder.'  '  Follow  me 
with  the  flag,'  said  Big  Ferre ;  and  marching  in  front,  and  lay- 
ing about  him  right  and  left  with  his  axe,  he  opened  and  cleared 
the  way  to  the  point  indicated,  so  that  his  comrade  could  freely 
hurl  the  flag  into  the  ditch.  After  he  had  rested  a  moment, 
he  returned  to  the  fight,  and  fell  so  roughly  on  the  English 
who  remained,  that  all  those  who  could  fly  hastened  to  profit 
thereby.  It  is  said  that  on  that  day,  with  the  help  of  God  and 
Big  Ferre*,  who,  with  his  own  hand,  as  is  certified,  laid  low  more 
than  forty,  the  greater  part  of  the  English  who  had  come  to 
this  business  never  went  back  from  it.  But  the  captain  on  our 
side,  William  a-Larks,  was  there  stricken  mortally :  he  was  not 
yet  dead  when  the  fight  ended  ;  he  was  carried  away  to  his  bed ; 
he  recognized  all  his  comrades  who  were  there,  and  soon  after- 
wards sank  under  his  wounds.  They  buried  him  in  the  midst 
of  weeping,  for  he  was  wise  and  good." 

"  At  the  news  of  what  had  thus  happened  at  Longueil  the 
English  were  very  disconsolate,  saying  that  it  was  a  shame  that 
so  many  and  such  brave  warriors  should  have  been  slain  by  such 
rustics.  Next  day  they  came  together  again  from  all  their 
camps  in  the  neighborhood,  and  went  and  made  a  vigorous 
attack  at  Longueil  on  our  folks,  who  no  longer  feared  them 
hardly  at  all,  and  went  out  of  their  walls  to  fight  them.  In  the 
first  rank  was  Big  Ferre*,  of  whom  the  English  had  heard  so 
much  talk.  When  they  saw  him,  and  when  they  felt  the 
weight  of  his  axe  and  his  arm,  many  of  those  who  had  come 
to  this  fight  would  have  been  right  glad  not  to  be  there.  Many 
fled  or  were  grievously  wounded  or  slain.  Some  of  the  English 
nobles  were  taken.     If  our  folks  had  been  willing  to  give  them 


376  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.     [Chap.  XXII. 

up  for  money,  as  the  nobles  do,  they  might  have  made  a  great 
deal;  but  they  would  not.  When  the  fight  was  over,  Big 
Ferre*,  overcome  with  heat  and  fatigue,  drank  a  large'  quantity  of 
cold  water,  and  was  forthwith  seized  of  a  fever.  He  put  himself 
to  bed  without  parting  from  his  axe,  which  was  so  heavy  that 
a  man  of  the  usual  strength  could  scarcely  lift  it  from  the 
ground  with  both  hands.  The  English,  hearing  that  Big 
Ferre  was  sick,  rejoiced  greatly,  and  for  fear  he  should  get  well 
they  sent  privily,  round  about  the  place  where  he  was  lodged, 
twelve  of  their  men  bidden  to  try  and  rid  them  of  him.  On 
espying  them  from  afar,  his  wife  hurried  up  to  his  bed  where 
he  was  laid,  saying  to  him,  '  My  dear  Ferre,  the  English  are 
coming,  and  I  verily  believe  it  is  for  thee  they  are  looking; 
what  wilt  thou  do  ?  '  Big  Ferre,  forgetting  his  sickness,  armed 
himself  in  all  haste,  took  his  axe  which  had  already  stricken 
to  death  so  many  foes,  went  out  of  his  house,  and  entering 
into  his  little  yard,  shouted  to  the  English  as  soon  as  he  saw 
them,  4  Ah !  scoundrels,  you  are  coming  to  take  me  in  my 
bed ;  but  you  shall  not  get  me.'  He  set  himself  against 
a  wall  to  be  in  surety  from  behind,  and  defended  himself 
manfully  with  his  good  axe  and  his  great  heart.  The  English 
assailed  him,  burning  to  slay  or  to  take  him  ;  but  he  resisted 
them  so  wondrously,  that  he  brought  down  five  much  wounded 
to  the  ground,  and  the  other  seven  took  to  flight.  Big  Ferre, 
returning  in  triumph  to  his  bed,  and  heated  again  by  the  blows 
he  had  dealt,  again  drank  cold  water  in  abundance,  and  fell 
sick  of  a  more  violent  fever.  A  few  days  afterwards,  sinking 
under  his  sickness,  and  after  having  received  the  holy  sacra- 
ments, Big  Ferre  went  out  of  this  world,  and  was  buried  in 
the  burial-place  of  his  own  village.  All  his  comrades  and 
his  country  wept  for  him  bitterly,  for,  so  long  as  he  lived, 
the  English  would  not  have  ccme  nigh  this  place." 

There  is  probably  some  exaggeration  about  the  exploits  of 
Big  Ferre*  and  the  number  of  his  victims.  The  story  just  quoted 
is  not,  however,  a  legend ;  authentic  and  simple,  it  has  all  the 


RIG   FERRE.  —  Page  376. 


Chap.  XXII.]       THE   HUNDRED   YEARS'  WAR.  377 

characteristics  of  a  real  and  true  fact,  just  as  it  was  picked 
up,  partly  from  eye-witnesses  and  partly  from  hearsay,  by  the 
contemporary  narrator.  It  is  a  faithful  picture  of  the  internal 
state  of  the  French  nation  in  the  fourteenth  century ;  a  nation 
in  labor  of  formation,  a  nation  whose  elements,  as  yet  scattered 
and  incohesive,  though  under  one  and  the  same  name,  were 
fermenting  each  in  its  own  quarter  and  independently  of  the 
rest,  with  a  tendency  to  mutual  coalescence  in  a  powerful  unity, 
but,  as  yet,  far  from  succeeding  in  it. 

Externally,  King  Charles  V.  had  scarcely  easier  work  before 
him.  Between  himself  and  his  great  rival,  Edward  III.,  King 
of  England,  there  was  only  such  a  peace  as  was  fatal  and  hateful 
to  France.  To  escape  some  clay  from  the  treaty  of  Bre*tigny, 
and  recover  some  of  the  provinces  which  had  been  lost  by  it  — 
this  was  what  king  and  country  secretly  desired  and  labored  for. 
Pending  a  favorable  opportunity  for  promoting  this  higher  in- 
terest, war  went  on  in  Brittany  between  John  of  Montfort  and 
Charles  of  Blois,  who  continued  to  be  encouraged  and  patronized, 
covertly,  one  by  the  King  of  England,  the  other  b}^  the  King  of 
France.  Almost  immediately  after  the  accession  of  Charles  V. 
it  broke  out  again  between  him  and  his  brother-in-law,  Charles 
the  Bad,  King  of  Navarre,  the  former  being  profoundly  mistrust- 
ful, and  the  latter  brazenfacedly  perfidious,  and  both  detesting 
one  another,  and  watching  to  seize  the  moment  for  taking  ad- 
vantage one  of  the  other.  The  states  bordering  on  France, 
amongst  others  Spain  and  Italy,  were  a  prey  to  discord  and 
even  civil  wars,  which  could  not  fail  to  be  a  source  of  trouble 
or  serious  embarrassment  to  France.  In  Spain  two  brothers, 
Peter  the  Cruel  and  Henry  of  Transtamare,  were  disputing  the 
throne  of  Castile.  Shortly  after  the  accession  of  Charles  V., 
and  in  spite  of  his  lively  remonstrances,  in  1367,  Pope  Urban 
V.  quitted  Avignon  for  Rome,  whence  he  was  not  to  return 
to  Avignon  till  three  years  afterwards,  and  then  only  to  die. 
The  Emperor  of  Germany  was,  at  this  period,  almost  the  only 
one   of  the  great  sovereigns  of  Europe  who  showed  for  France 

vol.  ii.  48 


378  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.     [Chap.  XXII. 

and  her  kings  a  sincere  good  will.  When,  in  1378,  he  went  to 
Paris  to  pay  a  visit  to  Charles  V.,  he  was  pleased  to  go  to  St. 
Denis  to  see  the  tombs  of  Charles  the  Handsome  and  Philip 
of  Valois.  "  In  my  young  days,"  he  said  to  the  abbot,  "  I  was 
nurtured  at  the  homes  of  those  good  kings,  who  showed  me 
much  kindness ;  I  do  request  you  affectionately  to  make  good 
prayer  to  God  for  them."  Charles  V.,  who  had  given  him 
a  very  friendly  reception,  was,  no  doubt,  included  in  this  pious 
request. 

In  order  to  maintain  the  struggle  against  these  difficulties, 
within  and  without,  the  means  which  Charles  V.  had  at  his 
disposal  were  of  but  moderate  worth.  He  had  three  brothers 
and  three  sisters  calculated  rather  to  embarrass  and  sometimes 
even  injure  him  than  to  be  of  any  service  to  him.  Of  his 
brothers,  the  eldest,  Louis,  Duke  of  Anjou,  was  restless,  harsh, 
and  bellicose.  He  upheld  authority  with  no  little  energy  in 
Languedoc,  of  which  Charles  had  made  him  governor,  but  at 
the  same  time  made  it  detested ;  and  he  was  more  taken  up 
with  his  own  ambitious  views  upon  the  kingdom  of  Naples, 
which  Queen  Joan  of  Plungary  had  transmitted  to  him  by 
adoption,  than  with  the  interests  of  France  and  her  king.  The 
second,  John,  Duke  of  Berry,  was  an  insignificant  prince,  who 
has  left  no  strong  mark  on  history.  The  third,  Philip  the  Bold, 
Duke  of  Burgundy,  after  having  been  the  favorite  of  his 
father,  King  John,  was  likewise  of  his  brother  Charles  V., 
who  did  not  hesitate  to  still  farther  aggrandize  this  vassal, 
already  so  great,  by  obtaining  for  him  in  marriage  the  hand 
of  Princess  Marguerite,  heiress  to  the  countship  of  Flanders ; 
and  this  marriage,  which  was  destined  at  a  later  period  to 
render  the  Dukes  of  Burgundy  such  formidable  neighbors  for 
the  Kings  of  France,  was  even  in  the  lifetime  of  Charles  V. 
a  cause  of  unpleasant  complications  both  for  France  and 
Burgundy.  Of  King  Charles's  three  sisters,  the  eldest,  Joan, 
was  married  to  the  King  of  Navarre,  Charles  the  Bad,  and 
much  more  devoted  to  her  husband  than  to  her  brother ;  the 


Chap.  XXII.]         THE   HUNDRED   YEARS'  WAR.      .  379 

second,  Mary,  espoused  Robert,  Duke  of  Bar,  who  caused  more 
annoyance  than  he  rendered  service  to  his  brother-in-law,  the 
King  of  France ;  and  the  third,  Isabel,  wife  of  Galeas  Visconti, 
Duke  of  Milan,  was  of  no  use  to  her  brother  beyond  the  fact  of 
contributing,  as  we  have  seen,  by  her  marriage,  to  pay  a  part  of 
King  John's  ransom.  Charles  V.,  by  kindly  and  judicious  be- 
havior in  the  bosom  of  his  family,  was  able  to  keep  serious  quar- 
rels or  embarrassments  from  arising  thence  ;  but  he  found  therein 
neither  real  strength  nor  sure  support. 

His  civil  councillors,  his  chancellor,  William  de  Dormans,  car- 
dinal-bishop of  Beauvais ,  his  minister  of  finance,  John  de  la 
Grange,  cardinal-bishop  of  Amiens;  his  treasurer,  Philip  de 
Savoisy ;  and  his  chamberlain  and  private  secretary,  Bureau  de 
la  Riviere,  were,  undoubtedly,  men  full  of  ability  arid  zeal  for 
his  service,  for  he  had  picked  them  out  and  maintained  them 
unchangeably  in  their  offices.  There  is  reason  to  believe  that 
they  conducted  themselves  discreetly,  for  we  do  not  observe  that 
after  their  master's  death  there  was  any  outburst  against  them, 
on  the  part  either  of  court  or  people,  of  that  violent  and  deadly 
hatred  which  has  so  often  caused  bloodshed  in  the  history  of 
France.  Bureau  de  la  Riviere  was  attacked  and  prosecuted, 
without,  however,  becoming  one  of  the  victims  of  judicial  au- 
thority at  the  command  of  political  passions.  None  of  Charles 
V.'s  councillors  exercised  over  his  master  that  preponderating 
and  confirmed  influence  which  makes  a  man  a  premier  minister. 
Charles  V.  himself  assumed  the  direction  of  his  own  govern- 
ment, exhibiting  unwearied  vigilance,  "  but  without  hastiness 
and  without  noise."  There  is  a  work,  as  yet  unpublished,  of 
M.  Leopold  Delisle,  which  is  to  contain  a  complete  explanatory 
catalogue  of  all  the  Mandements  et  Actes  divers  de  Charles  V. 
This  catalogue,  which  forms  a  pendant  to  a  similar  work  per- 
formed by  M.  Delisle  for  the  reign  of  Philip  Augustus,  is  not  yet 
concluded ;  and,  nevertheless,  for  the  first  seven  years  only  of 
Charles  V.'s  reign,  from  1364  to  1371,  there  are  to  be  found 
enumerated  and  described  in  it  eight  hundred  and   fifty-four 


880  POPULAR   HISTORY    OF   FRANCE.     [Chap.  XXII. 

rnandements,  ordonnances  et  actes  divers  de  Charles  F.,  relating 
to  the  different  branches  of  administration,  and  to  daily  incidents 
of  government;  acts  all  bearing  the  impress  of  an  intellect 
active,  far-sighted,  and  bent  upon  becoming  acquainted  with 
everything,  and  regulating  everything,  not  according  to  a  gen- 
eral system,  but  from  actual  and  exact  knowledge.  Charles 
always  proved  himself  reflective,  unhurried,  and  anxious  solely 
to  comport  himself  in  accordance  with  the  public  interests  and 
with  good  sense.  He  was  one  day  at  table  in  his  room  with 
some  of  his  intimates,  when  news  was  brought  him  that  the 
English  had  laid  siege,  in  Guienne,  to  a  place  where  there  was 
only  a  small  garrison,  not  in  a  condition  to  hold  out  unless  it 
were  promptly  succored.  "  The  king,"  says  Christine  de  Pisan, 
"  showed  no  great  outward  emotion,  and  quite  coolly,  as  if  the 
topic  of  conversation  were  something  else,  turned  and  looked 
about  him,  and,  seeing  one  of  his  secretaries,  summoned  him 
courteously,  and  bade  him,  in  a  whisper,  write  word  to  Louis  de 
Sancerre,  his  marshal,  to  come  to  him  directly.  They  who  were 
there  were  amazed  that,  though  the  matter  was  so  weighty,  the 
king  took  no  great  account  of  it.  Some  young  esquires  who 
were  waiting  upon  him  at  table  were  bold  enough  to  say  to  him, 
4  Sir,  give  us  the  money  to  fit  ourselves  out,  as  many  of  us  are 
of  your  household,  for  to  go  on  this  business ;  we  will  be  new- 
made  knights,  and  will  go  and  raise  the  siege.'  The  king  began 
to  smile,  and  said,  'It  is  not  new-made  knights  that  are  suitable ; 
they  must  be  all  old.'  Seeing  that  he  said  no  more  about  it, 
some  of  them  added,  '  What  are  your  orders,  sir,  touching  this 
affair,  which  is  of  haste  ? '  *  It  is  not  well  to  give  orders  in 
haste ;  when  we  see  those  to  whom  it  is  meet  to  speak,  we  will 
give  our  orders.' " 

On  another  occasion,  the  treasurer  of  Nimes  had  died,  and 
the  king  appointed  his  successor.  His  brother,  the  Duke  of 
Anjou,  came  and  asked  for  the  place  on  behalf  of  one  of  his  own 
intimates,  saying  that  he  to  whom  the  king  had  granted  it  was  a 
man  of  straw,  and  without  credit.     Charles  caused  inquiries  to 


Chap.  XXIL]         THE   HUNDRED   YEARS'   WAR.  381 

be  made,  and  then  said  to  the  duke,  "  Truly,  fair  brother,  he  for 
whom  you  have  spoken  to  me  is  a  rich  man,  but  one  of  little 
sense  and  bad  behavior."  "  Assuredly,"  said  the  Duke  of  An- 
jou,  "he  to  whom  you  have  given  the  office  is  a  man  of  straw, 
and  incompetent  to  fill  it."  "  Why,  prithee?"  asked  the  king. 
"  Because  he  is  a  poor  man,  the  son  of  small  laboring  folks,  wLd 
are  still  tillers  of  the  ground  in  our  country."  "  Ah !  "  said 
Charles  ;  "  is  there  nothing  more  ?  Assuredly,  fair  brother,  we 
should  prize  more  highly  the  poor  man  of  wisdom  than  the  prof- 
ligate ass;  "  and  he  maintained  in  the  office  him  whom  he  had 
put  there. 

The  government  of  Charles  V.  was  the  personal  government 
of  an  intelligent,  prudent,  and  honorable  king,  anxious  for  the 
interests  of  the  state,  at  home  and  abroad,  as  well  as  for  his 
own ;  with  little  inclination  for,  and  little  confidence  in,  the  free 
co-operation  of  the  country  in  its  own  affairs,  but  with  wit 
enough  to  cheerfully  call  upon  it  when  there  was  any  pressing 
necessity,  and  accepting  it  then  without  chicanery  or  cheating, 
but  safe  to  go  back  as  soon  as  possible  to  that  sole  dominion,  a 
medley  of  patriotism  and  selfishness,  which  is  the  very  insuffi- 
cient and  very  precarious  resource  of  peoples  as  yet  incapable 
of  applying  their  liberty  to  the  art  of  their  own  government. 
Charles  V.  had  recourse  three  times,  in  July,  1367,  and  in  May 
and  December,  1369,  to  a  convocation  of  the  states-general,  in 
order  to  be  put  in  a  position  to  meet  the  political  and  financial 
difficulties  of  France.  At  the  second  of  these  assemblies,  when 
the  chancellor,  William  de  Dormans,  had  explained  the  position 
of  the  kingdom,  the  king  himself  rose  up  "  for  to  say  to  all  that 
if  they  considered  that  he  had  done  anything  he  ought  not  to 
have  done,  they  should  tell  him  so,  and  he  would  amend  what 
he  had  done,  for  there  was  still  time  to  repair  it,  if  he  had  done 
too  much  or  not  enough."  The  question  at  that  time  was  as  to 
entertaining  the  appeal  of  the  barons  of  Aquitaine  to  the  King 
of  France  as  suzerain  of  the  Prince  of  Wales,  whose  government 
had  become  intolerable,  and  to  thus  make  a  first  move  to  strug- 


382  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.     [Chap.  XXII. 

gle  out  of  the  humiliating  peace  of  Bretigny.  Such  a  step,  and 
such  words,  do  great  honor  to  the  memory  of  the  pacific  prince 
who  was  at  that  time  bearing  the  burden  of  the  government  of 
France.  It  was  Charles  V.'s  good  fortune  to  find  amongst  his 
servants  a  man  who  was  destined  to  be  the  thunderbolt  of  war 
and  the  glory  of  knighthood  of  his  reign.  About  1314,  fifty 
years  before  Charles's  accession,  there  was  born  at  the  castle  of 
Motte-Broon,  near  Rennes,  in  a  family  which  could  reckon  two 
ancestors  amongst  Godfrey  de  Bouillon's  comrades  in  the  first 
crusade,  Bertrand  du  Guesclin,  "  the  ugliest  child  from  Rennes 
to  Dinan,"  says  a  contemporary  chronicle,  flat-nosed  and  swarthy , 
thick-set,  broad-shouldered,  big-headed,  a  bad  fellow,  a  regular 
wretch,  according  to  his  own  mother's  words,  given  to  violence, 
always  striking  or  being  struck,  whom  his  tutor  abandoned 
without  having  been  able  to  teach  him  to  read.  At  sixteen 
years  of  age,  he  escaped  from  the  paternal  mansion,  went  to 
Rennes,  entered  upon  a  course  of  adventures,  quarrels,  chal- 
lenges, and  tourneys,  in  which  he  distinguished  himself  by  his 
strength,  his  valor,  and  likewise  his  sense  of  honor.  He  joined 
the  cause  of  Charles  of  Blois  against  John  of  Montfort,  when 
the  two  were  claimants  for  the  duchy  of  Brittany ;  but  at  the 
end  of  thirty  years,  "neither  the  good  of  him,  nor  his  prowess, 
were  as  yet  greatly  renowned,"  says  Froissart,  "  save  amongst 
the  knights  who  were  about  him  in  the  country  of  Brittany." 
But  Charles  V.,  at  that  time  regent,  had  taken  notice  of  him  in 
1359,  at  the  siege  of  Melun,  where  Du  Guesclin  had  for  the  first 
time  borne  arms  in  the  service  of  France.  When,  in  1364, 
Charles  became  king,  he  said  to  Boucicaut,  marshal  of  France, 
"  Boucicaut,  get  you  hence,  with  such  men  as  you  have,  and 
ride  towards  Normandy ;  you  will  there  find  Sir  Bertrand  du 
Guesclin ,  hold  yourselves  in  readiness,  I  pray  you,  you  and  he, 
to  recover  from  the  King  of  Navarre  the  town  of  Mantes,  which 
would  make  us  masters  of  the  River  Seine."  "  Right  willingly, 
sir,"  answered  Boucicaut;  and  a  few  weeks  afterwards,  on  the 
7th  of  April,  1364,  Boucicaut,  by  stratagem,   entered  Mantes 


Chap.  XXII.]      THE  HUNDRED  YEARS'  WAR.  383 

with  his  troop,  and  Du  Guesclin,  coming  up  suddenly  with  his, 
dashed  into  the  town  at  a  gallop,  shouting,  "  St.  Yves !  Gues- 
clin !  death,  death  to  all  Navarrese  ! "  The  two  warriors  did 
the  same  next  day  at  the  gates  of  Meulan,  three  leagues  from 
Mantes.  "  Thus  were  the  two  cities  taken,  whereat  King 
Charles  V.  was  very  joyous  when  he  heard-  the  news ;  and  the 
King  of  Navarre  was  very  wroth,  for  he  set  down  as  great  hurt 
the  loss  of  Mantes  and  of  Meulan,  which  made  a  mighty  fine 
entrance  for  him  into  France." 

It  was  at  Rheims,  during  the  ceremony  of  his  coronation,  that 
Charles  V.  heard  of  his  two  officers'  success.  The  war  thus 
begun  against  the  King  of  Navarre  was  hotly  prosecuted  on 
both  sides.  Charles  the  Bad  hastily  collected  his  forces,  Gas- 
cons, Normans,  and  English,  and  put  them  under  the  command 
of  John  de  Grailli,  called  the  Captal  of  Buch,  an  officer  of 
renown.  Du  Guesclin  recruited  in  Normandy,  Picardy,  and 
Brittany,  and  amongst  the  bands  of  warriors  which  were  now 
roaming  all  over  France.  The  plan  of  the  Captal  of  Buch  was 
to  go  and  disturb  the  festivities  at  Rheims,  but  at  Cocherel,  on 
the  banks  of  the  Eure,  two  leagues  from  Evreux,  he  met  the 
troops  of  Du  Guesclin ;  and  the  two  armies,  pretty  nearly  equal 
in  number,  halted  in  view  of  one  another.  Du  Guesclin  held 
counsel,  and  said  to  his  comrades  in  arms,  "  Sirs,  we  know  that 
in  front  of  us  we  have  in  the  Captal  as  gallant  a  knight  as  can  be 
found  to-day  on  all  the  earth ;  so  long  as  he  shall  be  on  the  spot 
he  will  do  us  great  hurt ;  set  we  then  a-horseback  thirty  of  ours, 
the  most  skilful  and  the  boldest ;  they  shall  give  heed  to  nothing 
but  to  make  straight  towards  the  Captal,  break  through  the 
press,  and  get  right  up  to  him  ;  then  they  shall  take  him,  pin 
him,  carry  him  off  amongst  them,  and  lead  him  away  some 
whither  in  safety,  without  waiting  for  the  end  of  the  battle.  If 
he  can  be  taken  and  kept  in  such  way,  the  day  will  be  ours,  so 
astounded  will  his  men  be  at  his  capture."  Battle  ensued  at  all 
points  [May  16,  1364]  ;  and,  whilst  it  led  to  various  encounters, 
with  various  results,  "  the  picked  thirty,  well  mounted  on  the 


384  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.     [Chap.  XXII. 

flower  of  steeds,"  says  Froissart,  "and  with  no  thought  but  for 
their  enterprise,  came  all  compact  together  to  where  was  the 
Captal,  who  was  fighting  right  valiantly  with  his  axe,  and  was 
dealing  blows  so  mighty  that  none  durst  come  nigh  him ;  but 
the  thirty  broke  through  the  press  by  dint  of  their  horses,  made 
right  up  to  him,  halted  hard  by  him,  took  him  and  shut  him  in 
amongst  them  by  force ;  then  they  voided  the  place,  and  bare 
him  away  in  that  state,  whilst  his  men,  who  were  like  to  mad, 
shouted,  i  A  rescue  for  the  Captal !  a  rescue  ! '  but  nought  could 
avail  them,  or  help  them ;  and  the  Captal  was  carried  off  and 
placed  in  safety.  In  this  bustle  and  turmoil,  whilst  the  Navar- 
rese  and  English  were  trying  to  follow  the  track  of  the  Captal, 
whom  they  saw  being  taken  off  before  their  eyes,  some  French 
agreed  with  hearty  good  will  to  bear  down  on  the  Captal' s  ban- 
ner, which  was  in  a  thicket,  and  whereof  the  Navarrese  made 
their  own  standard.  Thereupon  there  was  a  great  tumult  and 
hard  fighting  there,  for  the  banner  was  well  guarded,  and  by 
good  men ;  but  at  last  it  was  seized,  won,  torn,  and  cast  to  the 
ground.  The  French  were  masters  of  the  battle-field  ;  Sir  Ber- 
trand  and  his  Bretons  acquitted  themselves  loyally,  and  ever 
kept  themselves  well  together,  giving  aid  one  to  another ;  but  it 
cost  them  dear  in  men." 

Charles  was  highly  delighted,  and,  after  the  victory,  resolutely 
discharged  his  kingly  part,  rewarding,  and  also  punishing.  Du 
Guesclin  was  made  marshal  of  Normandy,  and  received  as  a  gift 
the  countship  of  Longueville,  confiscated  from  the  King  of  Na- 
varre. Certain  Frenchmen  who  had  become  confidants  of  the 
King  of  Navarre  were  executed,  and  Charles  V.  ordered  his 
generals  to  no  longer  show  any  mercy  for  the  future  to  subjects 
of  the  kingdom  who  were  found  in  the  enemy's  ranks.  The 
war  against  Charles  the  Bad  continued.  Charles  V.,  encouraged 
by  his  successes,  determined  to  take  part  likewise  in  that  which 
was  still  going  on  between  the  two  claimants  to  the  duchy  of 
Brittany,  Charles  of  Blois  and  John  of  Montfort.  Du  Guesclin 
was  sent  to  support  Charles  of  Blois ;  "  whereat  he  was  greatly 


Chap.  XXII.]      THE   HUNDRED   YEARS'   WAR.  385 

rejoiced,"  says  Froissart,  "  for  he  had  always  held  the  said  lord 
Charles  for  his  rightful  lord."  The  Count  and  Countess  of  Blois 
"  received  him  right  joyously  and  pleasantly,  and  the  best  part 
of  the  barons  of  Brittany  likewise  had  lord  Charles  of  Blois  in 
regard  and  affection."  Du  Guesclin  entered  at  once  on  the  cam- 
paign, and  marched  upon  Auray,  which  was  being  besieged  by 
the  Count  of  Montfort.  But  there  he  was  destined  to  encounter 
the  most  formidable  of  his  adversaries.  John  of  Montfort  had 
claimed  the  support  of  his  patron,  the  King  of  England,  and 
John  Chandos,  the  most  famous  of  the  English  commanders,  had 
applied  to  the  Prince  of  Wales  to  know  what  he  was  to  do. 
"  You  may  go  full  well,"  the  prince  had  answered,  "  since  the 
French  are  going  for  the  Count  of  Blois ;  I  give  you  good 
leave."  Chandos,  delighted,  set  hastily  to  work  recruiting. 
Only  a  few  Aquitanians  decided  to  join  him,  for  they  were  be- 
ginning to  be  disgusted  with  English  rule,  and  the  French 
national  spirit  was  developing  itself  throughout  Gascony,  even 
in  the  Prince  of  Wales's  immediate  circle.  Chandos  recruited 
scarcely  any  but  English  or  Bretons,  and  when,  to  the  great  joy 
of  the  Count  of  Montfort,  he  arrived  before  Auray,  "he 
brought,"  says  Froissart,  "full  sixteen  hundred  fighting  men, 
knights,  and  squires,  English  and  Breton,  and  about  eight  or 
nine  hundred  archers."  Du  Guesclin's  troops  were  pretty 
nearly  equal  in  number,  and  not  less  brave,  but  less  well  disci- 
plined, and  probably  also  less  ably  commanded.  The  battle  took 
place  on  the  29th  of  September,  1364,  before  Auray.  The 
attendant  circumstances  and  the  result  have  already  been 
recounted  in  the  twentieth  chapter  of  this  history ;  Charles  of 
Blois  was  killed,  and  Du  Guesclin  was  made  prisoner.  The 
cause  of  John  of  Montfort  was  clearly  won ;  and  he,  on  taking 
possession  of  the  duchy  of  Brittany,  asked  nothing  better  than 
to  acknowledge  himself  vassal  of  the  King  of  France,  and  swear 
fidelity  to  him.  Charles  V.  had  too  much  judgment  not  to  fore- 
see that,  even  after  a  defeat,  a  peace  which  gave  a  lawful  and 
definite  solution  to  the  question  of  Brittany,  rendered  his  rela- 
vol.  ii.  49 


386  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.     [Chap.  XXII. 

tions  and  means  of  influence  with  this  important  province 
much  more  to  be  depended  upon  than  any  success  which  a  pro- 
longed war  might  promise  him.  Accordingly  he  made  peace  at 
Guerande,  on  the  11th  of  April,  1365,  after  having  disputed 
the  conditions  inch  by  inch ;  and  some  weeks  previously,  on 
the  6th  of  March,  at  the  indirect  instance  of  the  King  of  Na- 
varre, who,  since  the  battle  of  Gocherel,  had  felt  himself  in 
peril,  Charles  V.  had  likewise  put  an  end  to  his  open  struggle 
against  his  perfidious  neighbor,  of  whom  he  certainly  did  not 
cease  to  be  mistrustful.  Being  thus  delivered  from  every  ex- 
ternal war  and  declared  enemy,  the  wise  King  of  France  was 
at  liberty  to  devote  himself  to  the  re-establishment  of  internal 
peace  and  of  order  throughout  his  kingdom,  which  was  in  the 
most  pressing  need  thereof. 

We  have,  no  doubt,  even  in  our  own  day,  cruel  experience 
of  the  disorders  and  evils  of  war  ;  but  we  can  form,  one  would 
say,  but  a  very  incomplete  idea  of  what  they  were  in  the  four- 
teenth century,  without  any  of  those  humane  administrative 
measures,  still  so  ineffectual,  —  provisionings,  hospitals,  ambu- 
lances, barracks,  and  encampments, — which  are  taken  in  the 
present  day  to  prevent  or  repair  them.  The  Recueil  des  Or- 
donnances  des  Hois  de  France  is  full  of  safeguards  granted  by 
Charles  V.  to  monasteries  and  hospices  and  communes,  which 
implored  his  protection,  that  they  might  have  a  little  less  to  suf- 
fer than  the  country  in  general.  We  will  borrow  from  the 
best  informed  and  the  most  intelligent  of  the  contemporary 
chroniclers,  the  Continuer  of  William  of  Nangis,  a  picture  of 
those  sufferings  and  the  causes  of  them.  "  There  was  not," 
he  says,  "  in  Anjou,  in  Touraine,  in  Beauce,  near  Orleans  and 
up  to  the  approaches  of  Paris,  any  corner  of  the  country  which 
was  free  from  plunderers  and  robbers.  They  were  so  numer- 
ous everywhere,  either  in  little  forts  occupied  by  them  or  in 
the  villages  and  country-places,  that  peasants  and  tradesfolks 
could  not  travel  but  at  great  expense  and  great  peril.  The 
very  guards  told  off  to  defend  cultivators  and  travellers  took 


Ckap.  XXII.]     THE   HUNDRED   YEARS'   WAR.  387 

part  most  shamefully  in  harassing  and  despoiling  them.  It  was 
the  same  in  Burgundy  and  the  neighboring  countries.  Some 
knights  who  called  themselves  friends  of  the  king  and  of  the 
king's  majesty,  and  whose  names  I  am  not  minded  to  set  down 
here,  kept  in  their  service  brigands  who  were  quite  as  bad.  What 
is  far  more  strange  is,  that  when  those  folks  went  into  the  cities, 
Paris  or  elsewhere,  everybody  knew  them  and  pointed  them 
out,  but  none  durst  lay  a  hand  upon  them.  I  saw  one  night  at 
Paris,  in  the  suburb  of  St.  Germain  des  Pres,  while  the  people 
were  sleeping;  some  brigands  who  were  abiding  with  their  chief- 
tains in  the  city,  attempting  to  sack  certain  hospices :  they  were 
arrested  and  imprisoned  in  the  Chatelet ;  but,  before  long,  they 
were  got  off,  declared  innocent,  and  set  at  liberty  without  un- 
dergoing the  least  punishment — a  great  encouragement  for  them 
and  their  like  to  go  still  farther.  .  .  .  When  the  king  gave  Ber- 
trand  du  Guesclin  the  countship  of  Longueville,  in  the  diocese 
of  Rouen,  which  had  belonged  to  Philip,  brother  of  the  King  of 
Navarre,  Du  Guesclin  promised  the  king  that  he  would  drive 
out  by  force  of  arms  all  the  plunderers  and  robbers,  those  ene- 
mies of  the  kingdom ;  but  he  did  nothing  of  the  sort ;  nay,  the 
Bretons  even  of  Du  Guesclin,  on  returning  from  Rouen,  pil- 
laged and  stole  in  the  villages  whatever  they  found  there  — 
garments,  horses,  sheep,  oxen,  and  beasts  of  burden  and  of 
tillage." 

Charles  V.  was  not,  as  Louis  XII.  and  Henry  IY.  were,  of  a 
disposition  full  of  affection,  and  sympathetically  inclined  towards 
his  people ;  but  he  was  a  practical  man,  who,  in  his  closet  and 
in  the  library  growing  up  about  him,  took  thought  for  the  in- 
terests of  his  kingdom  as  well  as  for  his  own ;  he  had  at  heart 
the  public  good,  and  lawlessness  was  an  abomination  to  him. 
He  had  just  purchased,  at  a  ransom  of  a  hundred  thousand 
francs,  the  liberty  of  Bertrand  du  Guesclin,  who  had  remained 
a  prisoner  in  the  hands  of  John  Chandos,  after  the  battle  of 
Auray.  An  idea  occurred  to  him  that  the  valiant  Breton  might 
be  of  use  to  him  in  extricating  France  from  the  deplorable  con- 


388  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.     [Chap.  XXII. 

clition  to  which  she  had  been  reduced  by  the  bands  of  plunder- 
ers roaming  everywhere  over  her  soil.  We  find  in  the  Chroni- 
cle in  verse  of  Bertrand  Guesclin,  by  Cuvelier,  a  troubadour  of 
the  fourteenth  century,  a  detailed  account  of  the  king's  per- 
plexities on  this  subject,  and  of  the  measures  he  took  to  apply 
a  remedy.  We  cannot  regard  this  account  as  strictly  historical ; 
but  it  is  a  picture,  vivid  and  morally  true,  of  events  and  men  as 
they  were  understood  and  conceived  to  be  by  a  contemporary, 
a  mediocre  poet,  but  a  spirited  narrator.  We  will  reproduce 
the  principal  features,  modifying  the  language  to  make  it  more 
easily  intelligible,  but  without  altering  the  fundamental  char- 
acter. 

"  There  were  so  many  folk  who  went  about  pillaging  the 
country  of  France  that  the  king  was  sad  and  doleful  at  heart. 
He  summoned  his  council,  and  said  to  them,  '  What  shall  we  do 
with  this  multitude  of  thieves  who  go  about  destroying  our 
people  ?  If  I  send  against  them  my  valiant  baronage  I  lose  my 
noble  barons,  and  then  I  shall  never  more  have  any  joy  of  my 
life.  If  any  could  lead  these  folk  into  Spain  against  the  mis- 
creant and  tyrant  Pedro,  who  put  our  sister  to  death,  I  would 
like  it  well,  whatever  it  might  cost  me.' 

"  Bertrand  du  Guesclin  gave  ear  to  the  king,  and  i  Sir  King,' 
said  he,  4  it  is  my  heart's  desire  to  cross  over  the  seas  and  go 
fight  the  heathen  with  the  edge  of  the  sword;  but  if  I  could 
come  nigh  this  folk  which  doth  anger  you,  I  would  deliver  the 
kingdom  from  them.'  '  I  should  like  it  well,'  said  the  king. 
4  Say  no  more,'  said  Bertrand  to  him  ;  4 1  will  learn  their  pleas- 
ure ;  give  it  no  further  thought.' 

"  Bertrand  du  Guesclin  summoned  his  herald,  and  said  to 
him,  '  Go  thou  to  the  Grand  Company  and  have  all  the  captains 
assembled;  thou  wilt  go  and  demand  for  me  a  safe-conduct, 
for  I  have  a  great  desire  to  parley  with  them.'  The  herald 
mounted  his  horse,  and  went  a-seeking  these  folk  toward  Cha- 
lon-sur-la-Sat>ne.  They  were  seated  together  at  dinner,  and 
were   drinking    good  wine   from   the   cask   they  had  pierced. 


BERTRAND  DU  GUESCLIN.  —  Page  388. 


Chap.  XXIL]     THE   HUNDRED   YEARS'   WAR.  389 

4  Sirs,'  said  the  herald,  4  the  blessing  of  Jesus  be  on  you  !  Ber- 
trand  du  Guesclin  prayeth  you  to  let  him  parley  with  all  in 
company.'  'By  my  faith,  gentle  herald,'  said  Hugh  de  Calver- 
ley,  who  was  master  of  the  English,  '  I  will  readily  see  Ber- 
trand  here,  and  will  give  him  good  wine  ;  I  can  well  give  it 
him,  in  sooth,  I  do  assure  you,  for  it  costs  me  nothing.'  Then 
the  herald  departed,  and  returned  to  his  lord,  and  told  the  news 
of  this  company. 

"  So  away  rode  Bertrand,  and  halted  not ;  and  he  rode  so  far 
that  he  came  to  the  Grand  Company,  and  then  did  greet  them. 
4  God  keep,'  said  he,  '  the  companions  I  see  yonder ! '  Then 
they  bowed  down ;  each  abased  himself.  *  I  vow  to  God,' 
said  Bertrand,  4  whosoever  will  be  pleased  to  believe  me ;  I  will 
make  you  all  rich.'  And  they  answered,  4  Right  welcome  here  ; 
sir,  we  will  all  do  whatsoever  is  your  pleasure.'  4  Sirs,'  said 
Bertrand,  4  be  pleased  to  listen  to  me ;  wherefore  I  am  come  I 
will  tell  unto  you.  I  come  by  order  of  the  king  in  whose  keep- 
ing is  France,  and  who  would  be  right  glad,  to  save  his  people, 
that  ye  should  come  with  me  whither  I  should  be  glad  to  go ; 
into  good  company  I  fain  would  bring  ye.  If  we  would  all  of 
us  look  into  our  hearts,  we  might  full  truly  consider  that  we 
have  done  enough  to  damn  our  souls ;  think  we  but  how  we 
have  dealt  with  life,  outraged  ladies  and  burned  houses,  slain 
men,  children,  and  everybody  set  to  ransom,  how  we  have  eaten 
up  cows,  oxen,  and  sheep,  drunk  good  wines,  and  done  worse 
than  robbers  do.  Let  us  do  honor  to  God  and  forsake  the  devil. 
Ask,  if  it  may  please  you,  all  the  companions,  all  the  knights, 
and  all  the  barons ;  if  you  be  of  accord,  we  will  go  to  the  king, 
and  I  will  have  the  gold  got  ready  which  we  do  promise  you  ; 
I  would  fain  get  together  all  my  friends  to  make  the  journey  we 
so  strongly  desire.'  " 

Du  Guesclin  then  explained,  in  broad  terms  which  left  the 
choice  to  the  Grand  Company,  what  this  journey  was  which  was 
so  much  desired.  He  spoke  of  the  King  of  Cyprus,  of  the 
Saracens  of  Granada,  of  the  Pope  of  Avignon,  and  especially 


390  POPULAR    HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.      [Chap.  XXII. 

of  Spain  and  the  King  of  Castile,  Pedro  the  Cruel,  "  scoundrel- 
murderer  of  his  wife  (Blanche  of  Bourbon),"  on  whom,  above 
all,  Du  Guesclin  wished  to  draw  down  the  wrath  of  his  hearers. 
44  In  Spain,"  he  said  to  them,  "  we  might  largely  profit,  for  the 
country  is  a  good  one  for  leading  a  good  life,  and  there  are  good 
wines  which  are  neat  and  clear."  Nearly  all  present,  whereof 
were  twenty-five  famous  captains,  "  confirmed  what  was  said  by 
Bertrand."  "  Sirs,"  said  he  to  them  at  last,  "  listen  to  me  :  I 
will  go  my  way  and  speak  to  the  King  of  the  Franks  ;  I  will  get 
for  you  those  two  hundred  thousand  francs  ;  you  shall  come  and 
dine  with  me  at  Paris,  according  to  my  desire,  when  the  time 
shall  have  come  for  it ;  and  you  shall  see  the  king,  who  will  be 
rejoiced  thereat.  We  will  have  no  evil  suspicion  in  anything, 
for  I  never  was  inclined  to  treason,  and  never  shall  be  as  long 
as  I  live."  Then  said  the  valiant  knights  and  esquires  to  him, 
44  Never  was  more  valiant  man  seen  on  earth  ;  and  in  you  we 
have  more  belief  and  faith  than  in  all  the  prelates  and  great 
clerics  who  dwell  at  Avignon  or  in  France." 

When  Du  Guesclin  returned  to  Paris,  44  Sir,"  said  he  to  the 
king,  44 1  have  accomplished  your  wish ;  I  will  put  out  of  your 
kingdom  all  the  worst  folk  of  this  Grand  Company,  and  I  will 
so  work  it  that  everything  shall  be  saved."  44  Bertrand,"  said 
the  king  to  him,  44  may  the  Holy  Trinity  be  pleased  to  have  you 
in  their  keeping,  and  may  I  see  you  a  long  while  in  joy  and 
health!  "  44  Noble  king,"  said  Bertrand,  44  the  captains  have  a 
very  great  desire  to  come  to  Paris,  your  good  city."  44 1  am  heart- 
ily willing,"  said  the  king  ;  44  if  they  come,  let  them  assemble  at 
the  Temple  ;  elsewhere  there  is  too  much  people  and  too  much 
abundance ;  there  might  be  too  much  alarm.  Since  they  have 
reconciled  themselves  to  us,  I  would  have  nought  but  friendship 
with  them." 

The  poet  concludes  the  negotiation  thus:  "At  the  bidding 
of  Bertrand,  when  he  understood  the  pleasure  of  the  noble 
King  of  France,  all  the  captains  came  to  Paris  in  perfect  safe- 
ty ;  they  were  conducted  straight  to  the   Temple  ;  there  they 


Chap.  XXII.]     THE  HUNDRED   YEARS'   WAR.  391 

were  feasted  and  dined  nobly,  and  received  many  a  gift,  and 
all  was  sealed." 

Matters  went,  at  the  outset  at  least,  as  Du  Guesclin  had 
promised  to  the  king  on  the  one  side,  and  on  the  other  to  the 
captains  of  the  Grand  Company.  There  was,  in  point  of  fact, 
a  civil  war  raging  in  Spain  between  Don  Pedro  the  Cruel,  King 
of  Castile,  and  his  natural  brother,  Henry  of  Transtamare,  and 
that  was  the  theatre  on  which  Du  Guesclin  had  first  proposed 
to  launch  the  vagabond  army  which  he  desired  to  get  out  of 
France.  It  does  not  appear,  however,  that  at  their  departure 
from  Burgundy  at  the  end  of  November,  1865,  this  army  and 
its  chiefs  had  in  this  respect  any  well-considered  resolution,  or 
any  well-defined  aim  in  their  movements.  They  made  first  for 
Avignon,  and  Pope  Urban  V.,  on  hearing  of  their  approach,  was 
somewhat  disquieted,  and  sent  to  them  one  of  his  cardinals  to  ask 
them  what  was  their  will.  If  we  may  believe  the  poet-chronicler, 
Cuvelier,  the  mission  was  anything  but  pleasing  to  the  cardinal, 
who  said  to  one  of  his  confidants,  "  I  am  grieved  to  be  set  to  this 
business,  for  I  am  sent  to  a  pack  of  madmen  who  have  not  an 
hour's,  nay,  not  even  half-an-hour's  conscience."  The  captains 
replied  that  they  were  going  to  fight  the  heathen  either  in  Cy- 
prus or  in  the  kingdom  of  Granada,  and  that  they  demanded  of 
the  pope  absolution  of  their  sins  and  two  hundred  thousand 
livres,  which  Du  Guesclin  had  promised  them  in  his  name.  The 
pope  cried  out  against  this.  "  Here,"  said  he,  "  at  Avignon,  we 
have  money  given  us  for  absolution,  and  we  must  give  it  gratis 
to  yonder  folks,  and  give  them  money  also :  it  is  quite  against 
reason."  Du  Guesclin  insisted.  "  Know  you,"  said  he  to  the 
cardinal,  "  that  there  are  in  this  army  many  folks  who  care  not 
a  whit  for  absolution,  and  who  would  much  rather  have  money ; 
we  are  making  them  proper  men  in  spite  of  themselves,  and 
are  leading  them  abroad  that  they  may  do  no  mischief  to  Chris- 
tians. Tell  that  to  the  pope ;  for  else  we  could  not  take  them 
away."  The  pope  yielded,  and  gave  them  the  two  hundred 
thousand  livres.      He  obtained  the  money  by  levies  upon  the 


392  POPULAR   HISTORY    OF   PRANCE.     [Chap.  XXII. 

population  of  Avignon.  They,  no  doubt,  complained  loudly,  for 
the  chiefs  of  the  Grand  Company  were  informed  thereof,  and 
Du  Guesclin  said,  "  By  the  faith  that  I  owe  to  the  Holy  Trinity, 
I  will  not  take  a  denier  of  that  which  these  poor  folks  have 
given ;  let  the  pope  and  the  clerics  give  us  of  their  own ;  we 
desire  that  all  they  who  have  paid  the  tax  do  recover  their 
money  without  losing  a  doit ;  "  and,  according  to  contemporary 
chronicles,  the  vagabond  army  did  not  withdraw  until  they  had 
obtained  this  satisfaction.  The  piety  of  the  middle  ages,  though 
sincere,  was  often  less  disinterested  and  more  rough  than  it  is 
commonly  represented. 

On  arriving  at  Toulouse  from  Avignon,  Du  Guesclin  and  his 
bands,  with  a  strength,  it  is  said,  of  thirty  thousand  men,  took 
the  decided  resolution  of  going  into  Spain  to  support  the  cause 
of  Prince  Henry  of  Transtamare  aga.^st  the  King  of  Castile  his 
brother,  Don  Pedro  the  Cruel.  The  Duke  of  Anjou,  governor 
of  Langnedoc,  gave  them  encouragement,  by  agreement,  no 
doubt  with  King  Charles  V.,  and  from  anxiety  on  his  own  part 
to  rid  his  province  of  such  inconvenient  visitors.  On  the  1st 
of  January,  1366,  Du  Guesclin  entered  Barcelona,  whither 
Henry  of  Transtamare  came  to  join  him.  There  is  no  occasion 
to  give  a  detailed  account  here  of  that  expedition,  which  apper- 
tains much  more  to  the  history  of  Spain  than  to  that  of  France. 
There  was  a  brief  or  almost  no  struggle.  Henry  of  Transta- 
mare was  crowned  king,  first  at  Calahorra,  and  afterwards  at 
Burgos.  Don  Pedro,  as  much  despised  before  long  as  he  was 
already  detested,  fled  from  Castile  to  Andalusia,  and  from  An- 
dalusia to  Portugal,  whose  king  would  not  grant  him  an  asylum 
in  his  dominions,  and  he  ended  by  embarking  at  Corunna  for 
Bordeaux,  to  implore  the  assistance  of  the  Prince  of  Wales, 
who  gave  him  a  warm  and  a  magnificent  reception.  Edward  III., 
King  of  England,  had  been  disquieted  by  the  march  of  the 
Grand  Company  into  Spain,  and  had  given  John  Chando:*  and 
the  rest  of  his  chief  commanders  in  Guienne  orders  to  bt  vigi- 
lant in  preventing  the  English  from  taking  part  in  the  erpedi- 


Chap.  XXII.]      THE   HUNDRED   YEARS'    WAR.  393 

tion  against  his  cousin  the  King  of  Castile  ;  but  several  of  the 
English  chieftains,  serving  in  the  bands  and  with  Du  Guesclin, 
set  at  nought  this  prohibition,  and  contributed  materially  to  the 
fall  of  Don  Pedro.  Edward  III.  did  not  consider  that  the  mat- 
ter was  any  infraction,  on  the  part  of  France,  of  the  treaty  of 
Bretigne,  and  continued  to  live  at  peace  with  Charles  V.,  testi- 
fying his  displeasure,  however,  all  the  same.  But  when  Don 
Pedro  had  reached  Bordeaux,  and  had  told  the  Prince  of  Wales 
that,  if  he  obtained  the  support  of  England,  he  would  make  the 
prince's  eldest  son,  Edward,  king  of  Galicia,  and  share  amongst 
the  prince's  warriors  the  treasure  he  had  left  in  Castile,  so  well 
concealed  that  he  alone  knew  where,  "  the  knights  of  the  Prince 
of  Wales,"  says  Froissart,  "gave  ready  heed  to  his  words,  for 
English  and  Gascons  are  by  nature  covetous."  The  Prince  of 
Wales  immediately  summoned  the  barons  of  Aquitaine,  and  on 
the  advice  they  gave  him  sent  four  knights  to  London  to  ask 
for  instructions  from  the  king  his  father.  Edward  III.  assem- 
bled his  chief  councillors  at  Westminster,  and  finally  "it  seemed 
to  all  course  due  and  reasonable  on  the  part  of  the  Prince  of 
Wales  to  restore  and  conduct  the  King  of  Spain  to  his  kingdom ; 
to  which  end  they  wrote  official  letters  from  the  King  and  the 
council  of  England  to  the  prince  and  the  barons  of  Aquitaine. 
When  the  said  barons  heard  the  letters  read  they  said  to  the 
prince,  '  My  lord,  we  will  obe}^  the  command  of  the  king  our 
master  and  your  father  ;  it  is  but  reason,  and  we  will  serve  you 
on  this  journey  and  King  Pedro  also ;  but  we  would  know  who 
shall  pay  us  and  deliver  us  our  wages,  for  one  does  not  take 
men-at-arms  away  from  their  homes  to  go  a  warfare  in  a  foreign 
land,  without  they  be  paid  and  delivered.  If  it  were  a  matter 
touching  our  dear  lord  your  father's  affairs,  or  your  own,  or 
your  honor  or  our  country's,  we  would  not  speak  thereof  so 
much  beforehand  as  we  do.'  Then  the  Prince  of  Wales  looked 
towards  the  Prince  Don  Pedro,  and  said  to  him,  4  Sir  King,  you 
hear  what  these  gentlemen  s&y ;  to  answer  is  for  you,  who  have 
to  employ  them.'  Then  the  King  Don  Pedro  answered  the 
vol.  ir.  50 


394  POPULAR   HISTORY    OF  FRANCE.     [Chap.  XXII. 

prince,  '  My  dear  cousin,  so  far  as  my  gold,  my  silver,  and  all  my 
treasure  which  I  have  brought  with  me  hither,  and  which  is  not 
a  thirtieth  part  so  great  as  that  which  there  is  yonder,  will  go, 
I  am  ready  to  give  it  and  share  it  amongst  your  gentry.'  4  You 
say  well,'  said  the  prince,  '  and  for  the  residue  I  will  be  debtor 
to  them,  and  I  will  lend  you  all  you  shall  have  need  of  until  we 
be  in  Castile.'  '  By  my  head,'  answered  the  King  Don  Pedro, 
'  you  will  do  me  great  grace  and  great  courtesy.'  " 

When  the  English  and  Gascon  chieftains  who  had  followed 
Du  Guesclin  into  Spain  heard  of  the  resolutions  of  their  king, 
Edward  III.,  and  the  preparations  made  by  the  Prince  of  Wales 
for  going  and  restoring  Don  Pedro  to  the  throne  of  Castile,  they 
withdrew  from  the  cause  which  they  had  just  brought  to  an 
issue  to  the  advantage  of  Henry  of  Transtamare,  separated  from 
the  French  captain  who  had  been  their  leader,  and  marched 
back  into  Aquitaine,  quite  ready  to  adopt  the  contrary  cause, 
and  follow  the  Prince  of  Wales  in  the  service  of  Don  Pedro. 
The  greater  part  of  the  adventurers,  Burgundian,  Picard,  Cham- 
pagnese,  Norman,  and  others  who  had  enlisted  in  the  bands 
which  Du  Guesclin  had  marched  out  of  France,  likewise  quitted 
him,  after  reaping  the  fruits  of  their  raid,  and  recrossed  the 
Pyrenees  to  go  and  resume  in  France  their  life  of  roving  and 
pillage.  There  remained  in  Spain  about  fifteen  hundred  men- 
at-arms  faithful  to  Du  Guesclin,  himself  faithful  to  Henry  of 
Transtamare,  who  had  made  him  Constable   of  Castile. 

Amidst  all  these  vicissitudes,  and  at  the  bottom  of  all  events 
as  well  as  of  all  hearts,  there  still  remained  the  great  fact  of  the 
period,  the  struggle  between  the  two  kings  of  France  and 
England  for  dominion  in  that  beautiful  country  which,  in  spite 
of  its  dismemberment,  kept  the  name  of  France.  Edward  III. 
in  London,  and  the  Prince  of  Wales  at  Bordeaux,  could  not  see, 
without  serious  disquietude,  the  most  famous  warrior  amongst 
the  French  crossing  the  Pyrenees  with  a  following  for  the  most 
part  French,  and  setting  upon  the  throne  of  Castile  a  prince 
necessarily   allied   to   the    King  of  France.      The  question  of 


Ghap.  XXII.]      THE   HUNDRED    YEARS'    WAR.  395 

rivalry  between  the  two  kings  and  the  two  peoples  had  thus 
been  transferred  into  Spain,  and  for  the  moment  the  victory 
remained  with  France.  After  several  months'  preparation  the 
prince  of  Wales,  purchasing  the  complicity  of  the  King  of  Na- 
varre, marched  into  Spain  in  February,  1367,  with  an  army  of 
twenty-seven  thousand  men,  and  John  Chandos,  the  most  able 
of  the  English  warriors.  Henry  of  Transtamare  had  troops 
more  numerous,  but  less  disciplined  and  experienced.  The  two 
armies  joined  battle  on  the  3d  of  April,  1367,  at  Najara  or  Nav- 
arette,  not  far  from  the  Ebro.  Disorder  and  even  sheer  rout 
soon  took  place  amongst  that  of  Henry,  who  flung  himself 
before  the  fugitives,  shouting,  "  Why  would  ye  thus  desert  and 
betray  me,  ye  who  have  made  me  King  of  Castile  ?  Turn  back 
and  stand  by  me  ;  and  by  the  grace  of  God  the  day  shall  be 
ours."  Du  Guesclin  and  his  men-at-arms  maintained  the  fight 
with  stubborn  courage,  but  at  last  they  were  beaten,  and  either 
slain  or  taken.  To  the  last  moment  Du  Guesclin,  with  his  back 
against  a  wall,  defended  himself  heroically  against  a  host  of 
assailants.  The  Prince  of  Wales,  coming  up,  cried  out,  "  Gentle 
marshals  of  France,  and  you  too,  Bertrand,  yield  yourselves  to 
me."  "  Why,  yonder  men  are  my  foes,"  cried  the  king,  Don 
Pedro ;  "  it  is  they  who  took  from  me  my  kingdom,  and  on 
them  I  mean  to  take  vengeance."  Du  Guesclin,  darting  for- 
ward, struck  so  rough  a  blow  with  his  sword  at  Don  Pedro, 
that  he  brought  him  fainting  to  the  ground,  and  then  turning 
to  the  Prince  of  Wales  said,  "  Nathless  I  give  up  my  sword  to 
the  most  valiant  prince  on  earth."  The  Prince  of  Wales  took 
the  sword,  and  charged  the  Captal  of  Buch  with  the  prisoner's 
keeping.  "  Aha  !  sir  Bertrand,"  said  the  Captal  to  Du  Guesclin, 
"you  took  me  at  the  battle  of  Cocherel,  and  to-day  I've  got 
you."  "  Yes,"  replied  Du  Guesclin ;  "  but  at  Cocherel  I  took 
you  myself,  and  here  you  are  only  my  keeper." 

The  battle  of  Najara  being  over,  and  Don  Pedro  the  Cruel 
restored  to  a  throne  which  he  was  not  to  occupy  for  long,  the 
Prince  of  Wales  returned  to  Bordeaux  with  his  army  and  his 


396  POPULAR   HISTORY    OF   FRANCE.     [Chap.  XXII. 

prisoner  Du  Guesclin,  whom  he  treated  courteously,  at  the  same 
time  that  he  kept  him  pretty  strictly.  One  of  the  English 
chieftains  who  had  been  connected  with  Du  Guesclin  at  the 
time  of  his  expedition  into  Spain,  Sir  Hugh  Calverley,  tried 
one  day  to  induce  the  Prince  of  Wales  to  set  the  French  war- 
rior at  liberty.  "  Sir,"  said  he,  "  Bertrand  is  a  right  loyal 
knight,  but  he  is  not  a  rich  man,  or  in  estate  to  pay  much 
money ;  he  would  have  good  need  to  end  his  captivity  on  easy 
terms."  "  Let  be,"  said  the  prince  ;  "  I  have  no  care  to  take 
aught  of  his  ;  I  will  cause  his  life  to  be  prolonged  in  spite  of 
himself :  if  he  were  released,  he  would  be  in  battle  again,  and 
always  a-making  war."  After  supper,  Hugh,  without  any  beat- 
ing about  the  bush,  told  Bertrand  the  prince's  answer.  "  Sir," 
he  said,  "  I  cannot  bring  about  your  release."  "  Sir,"  said 
Bertrand,  "  think  no  more  of  it ;  I  will  leave  the  matter  to  the 
decision  of  God,  who  is  a  good  and  just  master."  Some  time 
after,  Du  Guesclin  having  sent  a  request  to  the  Prince  of  Wales 
to  admit  him  to  ransom,  the  prince,  one  day  when  he  was  in 
a  gay  humor,  had  him  brought  up,  and  told  him  that  his  advi- 
sers had  urged  him  not  to  give  him  his  liberty  so  long  as  the  war 
between  France  and  England  lasted.  "  Sir,"  said  Du  Guesclin 
to  him,  "  then  am  I  the  most  honored  knight  in  the  world,  for 
they  say,  in  the  kingdom  of  France  and  elsewhere,  that  you  are 
more  afraid  of  me  than  of  any  other."  "  Think  you,  then,  it  is 
for  your  knighthood  that  we  do  keep  you?"  said  the  prince  : 
"  nay,  by  St.  George  ;  fix  you  your  own  ransom,  and  you  shall 
be  released."  Da  Guesclin  proudly  fixed  his  ransom  at  a  hun- 
dred thousand  francs,  which  seemed  a  large  sum  even  to  the 
Prince  of  Wales.  "  Sir,"  said  Du  Guesclin  to  him,  u  the  king 
in  whose  keeping  is  France  will  lend  me  what  I  lack,  and  there 
is  not  a  spinning  wench  in  France  who  would  not  spin  to  gain 
for  me  what  is  necessary  to  put  me  out  of  your  clutches."  The 
advisers  of  the  Prince  of  Wales  would  have  had  him  think  bet- 
ter of  it,  and  break  his  promise  ;  but  "  that  which  we  have 
agreed  to  with  him  we  will  hold  to,"  said  the  prince  ;  "  it  would 


#  Chap.  XXIL]       THE   HUNDRED    YEARS'    WAR.  397 

be  shame  and  confusion  of  face  to  us  if  we  could  be  reproached 
with  not  setting  him  to  ransom  when  he  is  ready  to  set  himself 
down  at  so  much  as  to  pay  a  hundred  thousand  francs."  Prince 
and  knight  were  both  as  good  as  their  word.  Du  Guesclin 
found  amongst  his  Breton  friends  a  portion  of  the  sum  he 
wanted ;  King  Charles  V.  lent  him  thirty  thousand  Spanish 
doubloons,  which,  by  a  deed  of  December  27,  1367,  Du  Gues- 
clin undertook  to  repay  ;  and  at  the  beginning  of  1368  the 
Prince  of  Wales  set    the  French  warrior  at  liberty. 

The  first  use  Du  Guesclin  made  of  it  was  to  go  and  put  his 
name  and  his  sword  at  the  service  first  of  the  Duke  of  Anjou, 
governor  of  Languedoc,  who  was  making  war  in  Provence  against 
Queen  Joan  of  Naples,  and  then  of  his  Spanish  patron,  Henry 
of  Transtamare,  who  had  recommenced  the  war  in  Spain  against 
his  brother,  Pedro  the  Cruel,  whom  he  was  before  long  to 
dethrone  for  the  second  time  and  slay  with  his  own  hand.  But 
whilst  Du  Guesclin  was  taking  part  in  this  settlement  of  the 
Spanish  question,  important  events  called  him  back  to  the  north 
of  the  Pyrenees  for  the  service  of  his  own  king,  the  defence  of 
his  own  country,  and  the  aggrandizement  of  his  own  fortunes. 
The  English  and  Gascon  bands  which,  in  1367,  had  recrossed 
the  Pyrenees  with  the  Prince  of  Wales,  after  having  restored 
Don  Pedro  the  Cruel  to  the  throne  of  Castile  had  not  disap- 
peared. Having  no  more  to  do  in  their  own  prince's  service, 
they  had  spread  abroad  over  France,  which  they  called  "  their 
apartment,"  and  recommenced,  in  the  countries  between  the 
Seine  and  the  Loire,  their  life  of  vagabondage  and  pillage.  A 
general  outcry  was  raised ;  it  was  the  Prince  of  Wales,  men 
said,  who  had  let  them  loose,  and  the  people  called  them  the 
host  (army)  of  England.  A  proceeding  of  the  Prince  of  Wales 
himself  had  the  effect  of  adding  to  the  rage  of  the  people  that 
of  the  aristocratic  classes.  He  was  lavish  of  expenditure,  and 
held  at  Bordeaux  a  magnificent  court,  for  which  the  revenues 
from  his  domains  and  ordinary  resources  were  insufficient;  so 
he  imposed  a  tax  for  five  years  of  ten  sous  per  hearth  or  family, 


398  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF  FRANCE.     [Chap.  XXII. 

"  in  order  to  satisfy,"  he  said,  "  the  large  claims  against  him." 
In  order  to  levy  this  tax  legally,  he  convoked  the  estates  of 
Aquitaine,  first  at  Niort,  and  then,  successively,  at  Angouleme, 
Poitiers,  Bordeaux,  and  Bergerac  ;  but  nowhere  could  he  obtain 
the  vote  he  demanded.  "  When  we  obeyed  the  King  of  France," 
said  the  Gascons,  "  we  were  never  so  aggrieved  with  subsidies, 
hearth-taxes,  or  gabels,  and  we  will  not  be,  as  long  as  we  can 
defend  ourselves."  The  Prince  of  Wales  persisted  in  his  de- 
mands. He  was  ill  and  irritable,  and  was  becoming  truly  the 
Black  Prince.  The  Aquitanians  too  became  irritated.  The 
prince's  more  temperate  advisers,  even  those  of  English  birth, 
tried  in  vain  to  move  him  from  his  stubborn  course.  Even 
John  Chandos,  the  most  notable  as  well  as  the  wisest  of  them, 
failed,  and  withdrew  to  his  domain  of  St.  Sauveur,  in  Normandy, 
that  he  might  have  nothing  to  do  with  measures  of  which  he 
disapproved.  Being  driven  to  extremity,  the  principal  lords  of 
Aquitaine,  the  Counts  of  Comminges,  of  Armagnac,  of  Pe'ri- 
gord,  and  many  barons  besides,  set  out  for  France,  and  made 
complaint,  on  the  30th  of  June,  1368,  before  Charles  V.  and 
his  peers,  "  on  account  of  the  grievances  which  the  Prince  of 
Wales  was  purposed  to  put  upon  them."  They  had  recourse, 
they  said,  to  the  King  of  France  as  their  sovereign  lord,  who 
had  no  power  to  renounce  his  suzerainty  or  the  jurisdiction  of 
his  court  of  peers  and  of  his  parliament. 

Nothing  could  have  corresponded  better  with  the  wishes  of 
Charles  V.  For  eight  years  past  he  had  taken  to  heart  the 
treaty  of  Bretigny,  and  he  was  as  determined  not  to  miss  as  he 
was  patient  in  waiting  for  an  opportunity  for  a  breach  of  it. 
But  he  was  too  prudent  to  act  with  a  precipitation  which  would 
have  given  his  conduct  an  appearance  of  a  premeditated  and 
deep-laid  purpose  for  which  there  was  no  legitimate  ground. 
He  did  not  care  to  entertain  at  once  and  unreservedly  the  appeal 
of  the  Aquitanian  lords.  He  gave  them  a  gracious  reception, 
and  made  them  "  great  cheer  and  rich  gifts  ;  "  but  he  announced 
his  intention  of  thoroughly  examining  the  stipulations  of  the 


Chap.  XXII.]      THE   HUNDRED   YEARS'    WAR.  399 

treaty  of  Bretigny,  and  the  rights  of  his  kingship.  "  He  sent 
for  into  his  council  chamber  all  the  charters  of  the  peace,  and 
then  he  had  them  read  on  several  days  and  at  full  leisure."  He 
called  into  consultation  the  schools  of  Boulogne,  of  Montpellier, 
of  Toulouse,  and  of  Orleans,  and  the  most  learned  clerks  of  the 
papal  court.  It  was  not  until  he  had  thus  ascertained  the  legal 
means  of  maintaining  that  the  stipulations  of  the  treaty  of  Bre- 
tigny had  not  all  of  them  been  performed  by  the  King  of  Eng- 
land, and  that,  consequently,  the  King  of  France  had  not  lost 
all  his  rights  of  suzerainty  over  the  ceded  provinces,  that  on  the 
25th  of  January,  1369,  just  six  months  after  the  appeal  of  the 
Aquitanian  lords  had  been  submitted  to  him,  he  adopted  it,  in 
the  following  terms,  which  he  addressed  to  the  Prince  of  Wales, 
at  Bordeaux,  and  which  are  here  curtailed  in  their  legal  expres- 
sions :  — 

"  Charles,  by  the  grace  of  God  King  of  France,  to  our  nephew 
the  Prince  of  Wales  and  of  Aquitaine,  greeting.  Whereas 
many  prelates,  barons,  knights,  universities,  communes,  and 
colleges  of  the  country  of  Gascony  and  the  duchy  of  Aquitaine, 
have  come  thence  into  our  presence,  that  they  might  have 
justice  touching  certain  undue  grievances  and  vexations  which 
you,  through  weak  counsel  and  silly  advice,  have  designed  to 
impose  upon  them,  whereat  we  are  quite  astounded,  .  .  .  we, 
of  our  kingly  majesty  and  lordship,  do  command  you  to  come 
to  our  city  of  Paris,  in  your  own  person,  and  to  present  your- 
self before  us  in  our  chamber  of  peers,  for  to  hear  justice 
touching  the  said  complaints  and  grievances  proposed  by  you  to 
be  done  to  your  people  which  claims  to  have  resort  to  our 
court.  .  .   .  And  be  it  as  quickly  as  you  may." 

"  When  the  Prince  of  Wales  had  read  this  letter,"  says 
Froissart,  "  he  shook  his  head,  and  looked  askant  at  the  afore- 
said Frenchmen  ;  and  when  he  had  thought  a  while,  he  an- 
swered, '  We  will  go  willingly,  at  our  own  time,  since  the 
King  of  France  doth  bid  us,  but  it  shall  be  with  our  casque  on 
our  head,  and  with  sixty  thousand  men  at  our  back.'  " 


400  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.     [Chap.  XXIX. 

This  was  a  declaration  of  war ;  and  deeds  followed  at  once 
upon  words.  Edward  III.,  after  a  short  and  fruitless  attempt 
at  an  accommodation,  assumed,  on  the  3d  of  June,  1369,  the 
title  of  King  of  France,  and  ordered  a  levy  of  all  his  subjects 
between  sixteen  and  sixty,  laic  or  ecclesiastical,  for  the  defence 
of  England,  threatened  by  a  French  fleet  which  was  cruising  in 
the  Channel.  He  sent  re-enforcements  to  the  Prince  of  Wales, 
whose  brother,  the  Duke  of  Lancaster,  landed  with  an  army  at 
Calais ;  and  he  offered  to  all  the  adventurers  with  whom  Europe 
was  teeming  possession  of  all  the  fiefs  they  could  conquer  in 
France.  Charles  V.  on  his  side  vigorously  pushed  forward  his 
preparations ;  he  had  begun  them  before  he  showed  his  teeth, 
for  as  early  as  the  19th  of  July,  1368,  he  had  sent  into  Spain 
ambassadors  with  orders  to  conclude  an  alliance  with  Henry  of 
Transtamare  against  the  King  of  England  and  his  son,  whom  he 
called  "  the  Duke  of  Aquitaine."  On  the  12th  of  April,  1369, 
he  signed  the  treaty  which,  by  a  contract  of  marriage  between 
his  brother,  Philip  the  Bold,  Duke  of  Burgundy,  and  the  Prin- 
cess Marguerite  of  Flanders,  transferred  the  latter  rich  province 
to  the  House  of  France.  Lastly  he  summoned  to  Paris  Du 
Guesclin,  who  since  the  recovery  of  his  freedom  had  been  fight- 
ing at  one  time  in  Spain,  and  at  another  in  the  south  of  France, 
and  announced  to  him  his  intention  of  making  him  constable. 
"  Dear  sir  and  noble  king,"  said  the  honest  and  modest  Breton, 
"  I  do  pray  you  to  have  me  excused  ;  I  am  a  poor  knight  and 
petty  bachelor.  The  office  of  constable  is  so  grand  and  noble 
that  he  who  would  well  discharge  it  should  have  had  long  pre- 
vious practice  and  command,  and  rather  over  the  great  than  the 
small.  Here  are  my  lords  your  brothers,  your  nephews,  and 
your  cousins,  who  will  have  charge  of  men-at-arms  in  the 
armies,  and  the  rides  afield,  and  how  durst  I  lay  commands  on 
them  ?  In  sooth,  sir,  jealousies  be  so  strong  that  I  cannot  well 
but  be  afeard  of  them.  I  do  affectionately  pray  you  to  dispense 
with  me,  and  to  confer  it  upon  another  who  will  more  willingly 
take  it  than  I,  and  will  know  better  how  to  fill  it."     "  Sir  Ber- 


Chap.  XXII.]         THE   HUNDRED   YEARS'   WAR.  401 

trand,  Sir  Bertrand,"  answered  the  king,  "  do  not  excuse  your- 
self after  this  fashion  ;  I  have  nor  brother,  nor  cousin,  nor 
nephew,  nor  count,  nor  baron  in  my  kingdom,  who  would  not 
obey  you ;  and  if  any  should  do  otherwise,  he  would  anger  me 
so  that  he  would  hear  of  it.  Take,  therefore,  the  office  with  a 
good  heart,  I  do  beseech  you."  Sir  Bertrand  saw  well,  says 
Froissart,  "  that  his  excuses  were  of  no  avail,  and  finally  he 
assented  io  the  king's  opinion  ;  but  it  was  not  without  a  strug- 
gle, and  to  his  great  disgust.  ...  In  order  to  give  him  further 
encouragement  and  advancement  the  king  did  set  him  close  to 
him  at  table,  showed  him  all  the  signs  he  could  of  affection,  and 
gave  him,  together  with  the  office,  many  handsome  gifts  and 
great  estates  for  himself  and  his  heirs."  Charles  V.  might  fear- 
lessly lavish  his  gifts  on  the  loyal  warrior,  for  Du  Guesclin  felt 
nothing  more  binding  upon  him  than  to  lavish  them,  in  his 
turn,  for  the  king's  service.  He  gave  numerous  and  sumptu- 
ous dinners  to  the  barons,  knights,  and  soldiers  of  every  degree 
whom  he  was  to  command. 

"  At  Bertrand's  plate  gazed  every  eye, 
So  massive,  chased  so  gloriously," 

says  the  poet-chronicler  Cuvelier ;  but  Du  Guesclin  pledged  it 
more  than  once,  and  sold  a  great  portion  of  it,  in  order  to  pay 
u  without  fail  the  knights  and  honorable  fighting-men  of  whom 
he  was  the  leader." 

The  war  thus  renewed  was  hotly  prosecuted  on  both  sides. 
A  sentiment  of  nationality  became,  from  day  to  day,  more  keen 
and  more  general  in  France.  At  the  commencement  of  hostili- 
ties, it  burst  forth  particularly  in  the  North  ;  the  burghers  of 
Abbeville  opened  their  gates  to  the  Count  of  St.  Pol,  and  in  a 
single  week  St.  Valery,  Crotoy,  and  all  the  places  in  the  count- 
ship  of  Ponthieu  followed  this  example.  The  movement  made 
progress  before  long  in  the  South.  Montauban  and  Milhau 
hoisted  on  their  walls  the  royal  standard ;  the  Archbishop  of 
Toulouse  "  went  riding  through  the  whole  of  Quercy,  preaching 

VOL.  II.  51 


402  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.       [Chap.  XXII. 

and  demonstrating  the  good  cause  of  the  King  of  France ;  and 
he  converted,  without  striking  a  blow,  Cahors  and  more  than 
sixty  towns,  castles,  or  fortresses."  Charles  V.  neglected  no 
means  of  encouraging  and  keeping  up  the  public  impulse.  It 
has  been  remarked  that,  as  early  as  the  9th  of  May,  1369,  he  had 
convoked  the  states-general,  declaring  to  them  in  person  that 
"  if  they  considered  that  he  had  done  anything  he  ought  not, 
they  should  say  so,  and  he  would  amend  it,  for  there  w^as  still 
time  for  reparation  if  he  had  done  too  much  or  not  enough." 
He  called  a  new  meeting  on  the  7th  of  December,  1369,  after 
the  explosion  of  hostilities,  and  obtained  from  them  the  most 
extensive  subsidies  they  had  ever  granted.  They  were  as 
stanch  to  the  king  in  principle  as  in  purse,  and  their  interpre- 
tations of  the  treaty  of  Bretigny  went  far  beyond  the  grounds 
which  Charles  had  put  forward  to  justify  war.  It  was  not  only 
on  the  upper  classes  and  on  political  minds  that  the  king  en- 
deavored to  act ;  he  paid  attention  also  to  popular  impressions  ; 
he  set  on  foot  in  Paris  a  series  of  processions,  in  which  he  took 
part  in  person,  and  the  queen  also,  "  barefoot  and  unsandaled, 
to  pray  God  to  graciously  give  heed  to  the  doings  and  affairs  of 
the  kingdom." 

But  at  the  same  time  that  he  was  thus  making  his  appeal, 
throughout  France  and  by  every  means,  to  the  feeling  of  nation- 
ality, Charles  remained  faithful  to  the  rule  of  conduct  which 
had  been  inculcated  in  him  by  the  experience  of  his  youth  ;  he 
recommended,  nay,  he  commanded,  all  his  military  captains  to 
avoid  any  general  engagement  with  the  English.  It  was  not 
without  great  difficulty  that  he  wrung  obedience  from  the 
feudal  nobility,  who,  more  numerous  very  often  than  the  Eng- 
lish, looked  upon  such  a  prohibition  as  an  insult,  and  sometimes 
withdrew  to  their  castles  rather  than  submit  to  it ;  and  even  the 
king's  brother,  Philip  the  Bold,  openly  in  Burgundy  testified  his 
displeasure  at  it.  Du  Guesclin,  having  more  intelligence  and 
firmness,  even  before  becoming  constable,  and  at  the  moment  of  . 
quitting  the  Duke  of  Anjou  at  Toulouse,  had  advised  him  not  to 


Chap.  XXII.]     THE   HUNDRED   YEARS'   WAR.  403 

accept  battle,  to  well  fortify  all  the  places  that  had  been  recov- 
ered, and  to  let  the  English  scatter  and  waste  themselves  in  a 
host  of  small  expeditions  and  distant  skirmishes  constantly  re- 
newed. When  once  he  was  constable,  Du  Guesclin  put  deter- 
minedly in  practice  the  king's  maxim,  calmly  confident  in  his 
own  fame  for  valor  whenever  he  had  to  refuse  to  yield  to  the 
impatience  of  his  comrades. 

This  detached  and  indecisive  war  lasted  eight  years,  with  a 
medley  of  more  or  less  serious  incidents,  which,  however,  did  not 
change  its  character.  In  1370,  the  Prince  of  Wales  laid  siege 
to  Limoges,  which  had  opened  its  gates  to  the  Duke  of  Berry. 
He  was  already  so  ill  that  he  could  not  mount  his  horse,  and 
had  himself  carried  in  a  litter  from  post  to  post,  to  follow  up  and 
direct  the  operations  of  the  siege.  In  spite  of  a  month's  resist- 
ance the  prince  took  the  place,  and  gave  it  up  as  a  prey  to  a  mob 
of  reckless  plunderers,  whose  excesses  were  such  that  Froissart 
himself,  a  spectator  generally  so  indifferent,  and  leaning  rather 
to  the  English,  was  deeply  shocked.  "  There,"  said  he,  "  was  a 
great  pity,  for  men,  women,  and  children  threw  themselves  on 
their  knees  before  the  prince,  and  cried,  4  Mercy,  gentle  sir  ! '  but 
he  was  so  inflamed  with  passion  that  he  gave  no  heed,  and  none, 
male  or  female,  was  listened  to,  but  all  were  put  to  the  sword. 
There  is  no  heart  so  hard  but,  if  present  then  at  Limoges  and 
not  forgetful  of  God,  would  have  wept  bitterly,  for  more  than 
three  thousand  persons,  men,  women,  and  children,  were  there 
beheaded  on  that  day.  May  God  receive  their  souls,  for  verily 
they  were  martyrs  !  "  The  massacre  of  Limoges  caused,  through- 
out France,  a  feeling  of  horror  and  indignant  anger  towards  the 
English  name.  In  1373  an  English  army  landed  at  Calais,  under 
the  command  of  the  Duke  of  Lancaster,  and  overran  nearly  the 
whole  of  France,  being  incessantly  harassed,  however,  without 
ever  being  attacked  in  force,  and  without  mastering  a  single  for- 
tress. "  Let  them  be,"  was  the  saying  in  the  king's  circle ;  "  when 
a  storm  bursts  out  in  a  country,  it  leaves  off  afterwards  and  dis- 
perses of  itself;  and  so  it  will  be  with  these  English."     The 


404  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.     [Chap.  XXII. 

sufferings  and  reverses  of  the  English  armies  on  this  expedition 
were  such,  that,  of  thirty  thousand  horses  which  the  English 
had  landed  at  Calais,  "  they  could  not  muster  more  than  six 
thousand  at  Bordeaux,  and  had  lost  full  a  third  of  their  men 
and  more.  There  were  seen  noble  knights,  who  had  great  pos- 
sessions in  their  own  country,  toiling  along  a-foot,  without 
armor,  and  begging  their  bread  from  door  to  door  without  get- 
ting any."  In  vain  did  Edward  III.  treat  with  the  Duke  of 
Brittany  and  the  King  of  Navarre  in  order  to  have  their  sup- 
port in  this  war.  The  Duke  of  Brittany,  John  IV.,  after  having 
openly  defied  the  King  of  France,  his  suzerain,  was  obliged  to 
fly  to  England,  and  the  King  of  Navarre  entered  upon  negotia- 
tions alternately  with  Edward  III.  and  Charles  V.,  being  always 
ready  to  betray  either,  according  to  what  suited  his  interests  at 
the  moment.  Tired  of  so  many  ineffectual  efforts,  Edward  III. 
was  twice  obliged,  between  1375  and  1377,  to  conclude  with 
Charles  V.  a  truce,  just  to  give  the  two  peoples,  as  well  as  the 
two  kings,  breathing- time  ;  but  the  truces  were  as  vain  as  the 
petty  combats  for  the  purpose  of  putting  an  end  to  this  great 
struggle. 

The  great  actors  in  this  historical  drama  did  not  know  how 
near  were  the  days  when  they  would  be  called  away  from  this 
arena,  still  so  crowded  with  their  exploits  or  their  reverses.  A 
few  weeks  after  the  massacre  of  Limoges  the  Prince  of  Wales 
lost,  at  Bordeaux,  his  eldest  son,  six  years  old,  whom  he  loved 
with  all  the  tenderness  of  a  veteran  warrior,  so  much  the  more 
affected  by  gentle  impressions  as  they  were  a  rarity  to  him ;  and 
he  was  himself  so  ill  that  "  his  doctors  advised  him  to  return  to 
England,  his  own  land,  saying  that  he  would  probably  get  better 
health  there."  Accordingly  he  left  France,  which  he  would 
never  see  again,  and,  on  returning  to  England,  he,  after  a  few 
months'  rest  in  the  country,  took  an  active  part  in  Parliament  in 
the  home-policy  of  his  country,  and  supported  the  opposition 
against  the  government  of  his  father,  who  since  the  death  of  the 
queen,  Philippa  of  Hainault,  had  been  treating  England  to  the 


Chap.  XXII.]       THE   HUNDRED   YEARS'   WAR.  405 

spectacle  of  a  scandalous  old  age  closing  a  life  of  glory.  Par- 
liamentary contests  soon  exhausted  the  remaining  strength  of 
the  Black  Prince,  and  he  died  on  the  8th  of  June,  1876,  in 
possession  of  a  popularity  that  never  shifted,  and  was  deserved 
by  such  qualities  as  showed  a  nature  great  indeed  and  generous, 
though  often  sullied  by  the  fits  of  passion  of  a  character  harsh 
even  to  ferocity.  "The  good  fortune  of  England,"  says  his 
contemporary  Walsingham,  "  seemed  bound  up  with  his  person, 
for  it  flourished  when  he  was  well,  fell  off  when  he  was  ill,  and 
vanished  at  his  death.  As  long  as  he  was  on  the  spot  the 
English  feared  neither  the  foe's  invasion  nor  the  meeting  on  the 
battle-field ;  but  with  him  died  all  their  hopes."  A  year  after 
him,  on  the  21st  of  June,  1377,  died  his  father,  Edward  III.,  a 
king  who  had  been  able,  glorious,  and  fortunate  for  nearly  half 
a  century,  but  had  fallen,  towards  the  end  of  his  life,  into 
contempt  with  his  people  and  into  forgetfulness  on  the  continent 
of  Europe,  where  nothing  was  heard  about  him  bej^ond  whispers 
of  an  indolent  old  man's  indulgent  weaknesses  to  please  a  covet- 
ous mistress. 

Whilst  England  thus  lost  her  two  great  chiefs,  France  still 
kept  hers.  For  three  years  longer  Charles  V.  and  Du  Guesclin 
remained  at  the  head  of  her  government  and  her  armies.  The 
truce  between  the  two  kingdoms  was  still  in  force  when  the 
Prince  of  Wales  died,  and  Charles,  ever  careful  to  practise 
knightly  courtesy,  had  a  solemn  funeral  service  performed  for 
him  in  the  Sainte-Chapelle  ;  but  the  following  year,  at  the 
death  of  Edward  III.,  the  truce  had  expired.  The  Prince  of 
Wales's  young  son,  Richard  II.,  succeeded  his  grandfather,  and 
Charles,  on  the  accession  of  a  king  who  was  a  minor,  was 
anxious  to  reap  all  the  advantage  he  could  hope  from  that  fact. 
The  war  was  pushed  forward  vigorously,  and  a  French  fleet 
cruised  on  the  coast  of  England,  ravaged  the  Isle  of  Wight, 
and  burned  Yarmouth,  Dartmouth,  Plymouth,  Winchelsea, 
and  Lewes.  What  Charles  passionately  desired  was  the  re- 
covery of  Calais  ;   he  would  have  made  considerable  sacrifices 


406  POPULAR   HISTORY    OF   FRANCE.     [Chap.  XXII. 

to  obtain  it,  and  in  the  seclusion  of  his  closet  he  displayed  an 
intelligent  activity  in  his  efforts,  by  war  or  diplomacy,  to  attain 
this  end.  "  He  had,"  says  Froissart,  "  couriers  going  a-horse- 
back  night  and  day,  who,  from  one  day  to  the  next,  brought 
him  news  from  eighty  or  a  hundred  leagues'  distance,  by  help 
of  relays  posted  from  town  to  town."  This  labor  of  the  king 
had  no  success  ;  on  the  whole  the  war  prosecuted  by  Charles 
V.  between  Edward  III.'s  death  and  his  own  had  no  result 
of  importance ;  the  attempt,  by  law  and  arms,  which  he  made 
in  1378,  to  make  Brittany  his  own  and  reunite  it  to  the 
crown,  completely  failed,  thanks  to  the  passion  with  which 
the  Bretons,  nobles,  burgesses,  and  peasants,  were  attached  to 
their  country's  independence.  Charles  V.  actually  ran  a  risk 
of  embroiling  himself  with  the  hero  of  his  reign ;  he  had 
ordered  Du  Guesclin  to  reduce  to  submission  the  countship 
of  Rennes,  his  native  land,  and  he  showed  some  temper  be- 
cause the  constable  not  only  did  not  succeed,  but  advised  him 
to  make  peace  with  the  Duke  of  Brittany  and  his  party. 
Du  Guesclin,  grievously  hurt,  sent  to  the  king  his  sword  of 
constable,  adding  that  he  was  about  to  withdraw  to  the  court 
of  Castile,  to  Henry  of  Transtamare,  who  would  show  more 
appreciation  of  his  services.  All  Charles  V.'s  wisdom  did  not 
preserve  him  from  one  of  those  deeds  of  haughty  levity  which 
the  handling  of  sovereign  power  sometimes  causes  even  the 
wisest  kings  to  commit,  but  reflection  made  him  promptly  ac- 
knowledge and  retrieve  his  fault.  He  charged  the  Dukes  of 
Anjou  and  Bourbon  to  go  and,  for  his  sake,  conjure  Du  Gues- 
clin to  remain  his  constable ;  and,  though  some  chroniclers 
declare  that  Du  Guesclin  refused,  his  will,  dated  the  9th  of 
July,  1380,  leads  to  a  contrary  belief,  for  in  it  he  assumes  the 
title  of  constable  of  France,  and  this  will  preceded  the  hero's 
death  only  by  four  days.  Having  fallen  sick  before  Chateau- 
neuf-Randon,  a  place  he  was  besieging  in  the  Gevaudan,  Du 
Guesclin  expired  on  the  13th  of  July,  1380,  at  sixty-six  years 
of  age,  and  his  last  words  were  an  exhortation  to  the  veteran 


PUTTING  THE  KEYS  ON  DU  GUESCLIN'S  BIER.  —  Page  407. 


Chap.  XXII.]       THE   HUNDRED   YEARS'   WAR.  407 

captains  around  him  "  never  to  forget  that,  in  whatsoever 
country  they  might  be  making  war,  churchmen,  women, 
children,  and  the  poor  people  were  not  their  enemies." 
According  to  certain  contemporary  chronicles,  or,  one  might 
almost  say,  legends,  Chateauneuf-Randon  was  to  be  given  up 
the  day  after  Du  Guesclin  died.  The  marshal  De  Sancerre, 
who  commanded  the  king's  army,  summoned  the  governor  to 
surrender  the  place  to  him ;  but  the  governor  replied  that  he 
had  given  his  word  to  Du  Guesclin,  and  would  surrender  to  no 
other.  He  was  told  of  the  constable's  death :  "  Very  well," 
he  rejoined,  "  I  will  carry  the  keys  of  the  town  to  his  tomb." 
To  this  the  marshal  agreed ;  the  governor  marched  out  of 
the  place  at  the  head  of  his  garrison,  passed  through  the  be- 
sieging army,  went  and  knelt  clown  before  Du  Guesclin's 
corpse,  and  actually  laid  the  keys  of  Chateauneuf-Randon  on 
his  bier. 

This  dramatic  story  is  not  sufficiently  supported  by  authentic 
documents  to  be  admitted  as  an  historical  fact;  but  there  is 
to  be  found  in  an  old  chronicle  concerning  Du  Guesclin  [pub- 
lished for  the  first  time  at  the  end  of  the  fifteenth  century, 
and  in  a  new  edition  by  M.  Francisque  Michel  in  1880]  a  story 
which,  in  spite  of  many  discrepancies,  confirms  the  principal 
fact  of  the  keys  of  Chateauneuf-Randon  being  brought  by  the 
garrison  to  the  bier.  "  At  the  decease  of  Sir  Bertrand,"  says 
the  chronicler,  "  a  great  cry  arose  throughout  the  host  of  the 
French.  The  English  refused  to  give  up  the  castle.  The 
marshal,  Louis  de  Sancerre,  had  the  hostages  brought  to  the 
ditches,  for  to  have  their  heads  struck  off.  But  forthwith  the 
people  in  the  castle  lowered  their  bridge,  and  the  captain  came 
and  offered  the  keys  to  the  marshal,  who  refused  them,  and  said 
to  him,  4  Friends,  you  have  your  agreements  with  Sir  Bertrand, 
and  ye  shall  fulfil  them  to  him.'  4  God  the  Lord!'  said  the 
captain,  '  you  know  well  that  Sir  Bertrand,  who  was  so  much 
worth,  is  dead :  how,  then,  should  we  surrender  to  him  this 
castle?     Verily,   lord   marshal,   you   do   demand   our   dishonor 


408  POPULAR   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.     [Chap.  XXII. 

when  you  would  have  us  and  our  castle  surrendered  to  a  dead 
knight.'  'Needs  no  parley  hereupon,'  said  the  marshal,  'but 
do  it  at  once,  for,  if  you  put  forth  more  words,  short  will  be 
the  life  of  your  hostages.'  Well  did  the  English  see  that  it 
could  not  be  otherwise  ;  so  they  went  forth  all  of  them  from 
the  castle,  their  captain  in  front  of  them,  and  came  to  the 
marshal,  who  led  them  to  the  hostel  where  lay  Sir  Bertram!, 
and  made  them  give  up  the  keys  and  place  them  on  his  bier, 
sobbing  the  while :  '  Let  all  know  that  there  was  there  nor 
knight,  nor  squire,  French  or  English,  who  showed  not  great 
mourning.'  " 

The  body  of  Du  Guesclin  was  carried  to  Paris  to  be  interred 
at  St.  Denis,  hard  by  the  tomb  which  Charles  V.  had  ordered 
to  be  made  for  himself ;  and  nine  years  afterwards,  in  1889, 
Charles  V.'s  successor,  his  son  Charles  VI.,  caused  to  be  celebrat- 
ed in  the  Breton  warrior's  honor  a  fresh  funeral,  at  which  the 
princes  and  grandees  of  the  kingdom,  and.  the  young  king  him- 
self, were  present  in  state.  The  Bishop  of  Auxerre  delivered 
the  funeral  oration  over  the  constable  ;  and  a  poet  of  the  time, 
giving  an  account  of  the  ceremony,  says, — 

"  The  tears  of  princes  fell, 

What  time  the  bishop  said, 
1  Sir  Bertrand  loved  ye  well ; 

Weep,  warriors,  for  the  dead ! 
The  knell  of  sorrow  tolls 

For  deeds  that  were  so  bright  : 
God  save  all  Christian  souls, 

And  his  —  the  gallant  knight !  '  " 

The  life,  character,  and  name  of  Bertrand  du  Guesclin  were 
and  remained  one  of  the  most  popular,  patriotic,  and  legitimate 
boasts  of  the  middle  ages,  then  at  their  decline. 

Two  months  after  the  constable's  death,  on  the  16th  of 
September,  1380,  Charles  V.  died  at  the  castle  of  Beautd-sur- 
Marne,  near  Vincennes,  at  forty-three  years  of  age,  quite  young 
still  after  so  stormy  and  hard-working  a  life.  His  contempora- 
ries were  convinced,  and  he  was  himself  convinced,  that  he  had 


Chap.  XXII.]       THE   HUNDRED   YEARS'   WAR.  409 

been  poisoned  by  his  perfidious  enemy,  King  Charles  of  Navarre. 
His  uncle,  Charles  IV.,  Emperor  of  Germany,  had  sent  him  an 
able  doctor,  who  "  set  him  in  good  case  and  in  manly  strength," 
says  Froissart,  by  effecting  a  permanent  issue  in  his  arm. 
"When  this  little  sore,"  said  he  to  him,  "shall  cease  to  dis- 
charge and  shall  dry  up,  you  will  die  without  help  for  it,  and 
you  will  have  at  the  most  fifteen  days'  leisure  to  take  counsel 
and  thought  for  the  soul."  When  the  issue  began  to  dry  up, 
Charles  knew  that  death  was  at  hand ;  and  "  like  a  wise  and 
valiant  man  as  he  was,"  says  Froissart,  "  he  set  in  order  all  his 
affairs,  and  sent  for  his  three  brothers,  in  whom  he  had  most 
confidence,  the  Duke  of  Berry,  the  Duke  of  Burgundy,  and  the 
Duke  of  Bourbon,  and  he  left  in  the  lurch  his  second  brother, 
the  Duke  of  Anjou,  because  he  considered  him  too  covetous. 
4  My  dear  brothers,'  said  the  king  to  them,  'I  feel  and  know 
full  well  that  I  have  not  long  to  live.  I  do  commend  and  give 
in  charge  to  you  my  son  Charles.  Behave  to  him  as  good  uncles 
should  behave  to  their  nephew.  Crown  him  as  soon  as  possible 
after  my  death,  and  counsel  him  loyally  in  all  his  affairs.  The 
lad  is  young,  and  of  a  volatile  spirit ;  he  will  need  to  be  guided 
and  governed  by  good  doctrine ;  teach  him  or  have  him  taught 
all  the  kingly  points  and  states  he  will  have  to  maintain,  and 
marry  him  in  such  lofty  station  that  the  kingdom  may  be  the 
better  for  it.  Thank  God,  the  affairs  of  our  kingdom  are  in  good 
case.  The  Duke  of  Brittany  [John  IV.,  called  the  Valiant]  is  a 
crafty  and  a  slippery  man,  and  he  hath  ever  been  more  English 
than  French  ;  for  which  reason  keep  the  nobles  of  Brittany  and 
the  good  towns  affectionate,  and  you  will  thus  thwart  his  inten- 
tions. I  am  fond  of  the  Bretons,  for  they  have  ever  served  me 
loyally,  and  helped  to  keep  and  defend  my  kingdom  against  my 
enemies.  Make  the  lord  Clisson  constable,  for,  all  considered, 
I  see  none  more  competent  for  it  than  he.  As  to  those  aids 
and  taxes  of  the  kingdom  of  France,  wherewith  the  poorer 
folks  are  so  burdened  and  aggrieved,  deal  with  them  according 
to  your  conscience,  and  take  them  off  as  soon  as  ever  you  can, 
vol.  n.  52 


410  POPULAR   HISTORY  OF   FRANCE.     [Chap.  XXII. 

for  they  are  things  which,  although  I  have  upheld  them,  do 
grieve  me  and  weigh  upon  my  heart ;  but  the  great  wars 
and  great  matters  which  we  have  had  on  all  sides  caused 
me  to  countenance  them." 

Of  all  the  dying  speeches  and  confessions  of  kings  to  their 
family  and  their  councillors,  that  which  has  just  been  put 
forward  is  the  most  practical,  precise,  and  simple.  Charles 
V.,  taking  upon  his  shoulders  at  nineteen  years  of  age, 
first  as  king's  lieutenant  and  as  dauphin,  and  afterwards  as 
regent,  the  government  of  France,  employed  all  his  soul 
and  his  life  in  repairing  the  disasters  arising  from  the  wars 
of  his  predecessors  and  preventing  any  repetition.  No  sover- 
eign was  ever  more  resolutely  pacific  ;  he  carried  prudence 
even  into  the  very  practice  of  war,  as  was  proved  by  his 
forbidding  his  generals  to  venture  any  general  engagement 
with  the  English,  so  great  a  lesson  and  so  deep  an  impres- 
sion had  he  derived  from  the  defeats  of  Cre*cy  and  Poitiers, 
and  the  causes  which  led  to  them.  But  without  being  a 
warrior,  and  without  running  any  hazardous  risks,  he  made 
himself  respected  and  feared  by  his  enemies.  "  Never  was 
there  king,"  said  Edward  III.,  "  who  handled  arms  less, 
and  never  was  there  king  who  gave  me  so  much  to  do." 
When  the  condition  of  the  kingdom  was  at  the  best,  and 
more  favorable  circumstances  led  Charles  to  believe  that 
the  day  had  come  for  setting  France  free  from  the  cruel 
conditions  which  had  been  imposed  upon  her  by  the  treaty 
of  Bretigny,  he  entered  without  hesitation  upon  that  war 
of  patriotic  reparation  ;  and,  after  the  death  of  his  two  power- 
ful enemies,  Edward  III.  and  the  Black  Prince,  he  was  still 
prosecuting  it,  not  without  chance  of  success,  when  he  him- 
self died  of  the  malady  with  which  he  had  for  a  long  while 
been  afflicted.  At  his  death  he  left  in  the  royal  treasury  a 
surplus  of  seventeen  million  francs,  a  large  sum  for  those 
days.  Nor  the  labors  of  government,  nor  the  expenses  of 
war,  nor  far-sighted  economy   had  prevented  him  from  show- 


Chap.  XXII.]       THE   HUNDRED   YEARS'  WAR.  411 

ing  a  serious  interest  in  learned  works  and  studies,  and  from 
giving  effectual  protection  to  the  men  who  devoted  them- 
selves thereto.  The  University  of  Paris,  notwithstanding  the 
embarrassments  it  sometimes  caused  him,  was  always  the  object 
of  his  good-will.  "  He  was  a  great  lover  of  wisdom,"  says 
Christine  de  Pisan,  "  and  when  certain  folks  murmured  for 
that  he  honored  clerks  so  highly,  he  answered,  c  So  long 
as  wisdom  is  honored  in  this  realm,  it  will  continue  in  pros- 
perity ;  but  when  wisdom  is  thrust  aside,  it  will  go  down.' " 
He  collected  nine  hundred  and  fifty  volumes  (the  first  foun- 
dation of  the  Royal  Library),  which  were  deposited  in  a 
tower  of  the  Louvre,  called  the  library  tower,  and  of  which 
he,  in  1373,  had  an  inventory  drawn  up  by  his  personal 
attendant,  Gilles  de  Presle.  His  taste  for  literature  and 
science  was  not  confined  to  collecting  manuscripts.  He  had 
a  French  translation  made,  for  the  sake  of  spreading  a  knowl- 
edge thereof,  of  the  Bible  in  the  first  place,  and  then  of 
several  works  of  Aristotle,  of  Livy,  of  Valerius  Maximus, 
of  Vegetius,  and  of  St.  Augustine.  He  was  fond  of  industry 
and  the  arts  as  well  as  of  literature.  Henry  de  Vic,  a  Ger- 
man clock-maker,  constructed  for  him  the  first  public  clock 
ever  seen  in  France,  and  it  was  placed  in  what  was  called 
the  Clock  Tower  in  the  Palace  of  Justice ;  and  the  king 
even  had  a  clock-maker  by  appointment,  named  Peter  de  St. 
Beathe.  Several  of  the  Paris  monuments,  churches,  or  build- 
ings for  public  use  were  undertaken  or  completed  under  his 
care.  He  began  the  building  of  the  Bastille,  that  fortress 
which  was  then  so  necessary  for  the  safety  of  Paris,  where 
it  was  to  be,  four  centuries  later,  the  object  of  the  wrath 
and  earliest  excesses  on  the  part  of  the  populace.  Charles 
the  Wise,  from  whatever  point  of  view  he  may  be  regarded, 
is,  after  Louis  the  Fat,  Philip  Augustus,  St.  Louis,  and  Philip 
the  Handsome,  the  fifth  of  those  kings  who  powerfully  con- 
tributed to  the  settlement  of  France  in  Europe,  and  of  the 
kingship   in   France.     He  was   not   the  greatest  nor  the  best, 


412 


POPULAR   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE.     [Chap.  XXII. 


but,  perhaps,  the  most  honestly  able.  And  at  the  same  time 
he  was  a  signal  example  of  the  shallowness  and  insufficiency 
of  human  abilities.  Charles  V.,  on  his  death-bed,  considered 
that  "  the  affairs  of  his  kingdom  were  in  good  case ;  "  he  had 
not  even  a  suspicion  of  that  chaos  of  war,  anarchy,  reverses 
and  ruin  into  which  they  were  about  to  fall,  in  the  reign  of 
his  son,  Charles  VI. 


END  OF  VOLUME  H. 


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